Val Polyanin
Extant
1100 U.S. 101, Crescent City, California, 95531, United States
The exterior works are viewable 24/7; when the artist is around and the art gallery is open, the interior pieces are viewable as well.
About the Artist/Site
Val Polyanin emigrated from the Ukraine and now lives in northern Humboldt County, California, land of monumental redwood trees and foggy coastlines. For a time he was licensed to practice as a security guard, but the license has elapsed.
He displays a selection of his sculpture in front and inside of a roadside art gallery that appears to have been a railroad freight car, just south of the town of Crescent City; his primary target audience is the drive-by tourist. Polyanin’s works are created from a variety of media and many are painted with strong and sometimes discordant colors. And unlike many of the roadside art/sculpture stands that dot this northern stretch of Highway 101 – chainsaw-carved bears, mushrooms, and cutesy plaques – much of this artist’s imagery is disturbing: the Grim Reaper, shocked and crying figures, decapitated heads, and the like appear prominently among his oeuvre. Sizes range from table-top to larger than human scale. There are also vertical abstractions, however, that appear to be more about form than narrative, and expressionist paintings – both figurative and abstract – are displayed within the gallery.
The exterior works are viewable 24/7; when the artist is around and the art gallery is open, the interior pieces are viewable as well.
~Jo Farb Hernández
Map & Site Information
1100 U.S. 101
Crescent City, California, 95531
us
Latitude/Longitude: 41.747428 / -124.170875
Nearby Environments
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Comments
Pamela Barrowcliff July 10, 2022
Please don't let this amazing art go! I'll store it on my property if needed. Crescent city has to make sure this artists work is preserved, especially now that Russian armies and bombs have destroyed who knows how much of Ukrainian art and architecture!
Jon Olson May 28, 2022
Much of VAL POLYANIN's art is in danger of being discarded in the coming weeks due to lack of payment for the storage location. If anyone can help please contact me.