Artist "Brushes Up" After Surgery
Internationally Acclaimed Painter is Creating Once Again

As an up-and-coming sports superstar, Vladimir Loukin lived life in the fast lane. A world-class speed skater, he was scheduled to participate on the 1976 U.S.S.R. Olympic team, and was the odds-on favorite to win a gold medal in the 1,500-meter event.

Then, without warning, his accelerated lifestyle came to a screeching halt. As Loukin was bicycling home from practice one rainy winter night in his homeland of Kazakstan, then a part of the Soviet Union, a drunk driver suddenly changed lanes, slamming into Loukin’s bicycle and dashing his dreams of gold forever.

"I went flying through the air, and when I landed, all my arms and legs were broken," he said through an interpreter.

Infection forced doctors to amputate Loukin’s right leg, and the young man on the cusp of fame and fortune found himself without purpose or direction.

"Everything I had worked toward, everything I had lived for, was gone," he said from his temporary residence near the Texas Medical Center, where he was recovering from hip replacement surgery at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, performed 25 years after his accident.

Calling upon the unswerving drive and dedication that carried him to the Olympics, Loukin resolved to start a new career that would challenge his intellect and test his skill, just as speed skating once had.

But what?

He had served as a soldier in the Soviet army, and could automatically be reclassified as an army clerk due to his disability.

Secure ... but boring.

Instead, at the urging of his girlfriend Olga, he began to paint.

"I’ve appreciated art my entire life and secretly yearned to paint, but my artistic pursuits took a back seat to speed skating," he said.

That was about to change.

Loukin enrolled at Almaty Abai State University, and spent the next decade studying art history, marrying Olga, and developing a reputation as one of the foremost artists in the Eastern hemisphere. Based on his love of the Impressionists and the style of Van Gogh, his paintings radiate with bright, vivid colors, primarily red, blue and yellow.

Since selling his first painting at age 27, Loukin has produced more than a thousand works of art, many which are exhibited in museums and galleries throughout Europe and Asia. Art collectors regularly seek out his masterpieces, and at a recent one-man show in the Netherlands, every one of Loukin’s exhibited works sold within a few hours.

"That was a difficult day for me ... I like it when people want to buy my paintings, but it’s also hard to let go ... my paintings are like my children," he said.

Loukin’s largest commission came in 1995 when the Kazakstani government gifted historic Zenkov Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox church. For years during the Soviet communist regime, religious expression was frowned upon, and the government took over all buildings of worship, using them primarily as storage facilities or gymnasiums. When Kazakstan gained its independence from Russia, religion once again began to flourish, and the cathedrals were returned to the control of the church.

Loukin started working on a series of religious murals, each six stories high, to decorate the majestic walls of Zenkov Cathedral. Months of standing and climbing up and down ladders to paint these works ruined his hip. In excruciating pain, Loukin ceased painting for four years until a tight-knit group of Texas oil men who spend a portion of each year in oil-rich Kazakstan came to his rescue. Houston resident Howard R. Lowe, an international petroleum consultant and collector of Loukin’s paintings, spearheaded the efforts which resulted in Loukin’s surgery at St. Luke’s and followup rehabilitation at The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research.

"Vladimir could have had surgery in Kazakstan, but the level of care is much less than what is available here," Lowe said. "We wanted the best for him."

Today, Loukin’s pain is gone, and he and Olga were eager to travel home as soon as possible.

"When the doctor gives the OK, I will be gone," said Loukin, eager to reunite with his children Igor, 11 and Julie, 9, who remain in Kazakstan in the care of their grandparents.

Upon his departure, Loukin will leave behind a new contingency of Houston fans. An art show at a local gallery which featured his work was wildly successful, and generated thousands of dollars in income to defray the cost of Loukin’s medical expenses.

"To my Houston friends, I say ‘thank you’ a thousand times," Loukin said. "You are fantastic ... like art, you touch my soul."

---

©2006 Texas Medical Center

---

E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu
URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/06_01_02/page_02.html