Val Polyanin

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





1100 U.S. 101
Crescent City, California, 95531 us
Latitude/Longitude: 41.7673049 / -124.1935453

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