Russians not only are coming: they came and conquered
By Betty Ligon
El Paso Inc.
Jun. 10 - Jun. 17, 2007

Say what you wish about Russian leaders and their forever cold attitude toward Americans, it only took a pair of young Russians 15 years to conquer El Paso! Last week's reception at the gala opening reception of an exhibit of paintings by Alexsandrer and Lyuba Titovets set a record for attendance at the International Museum of Art.

Lyuba in her svelte black gown looked for all the world like a royal princess and her big bearded spouse in his natty tuxedo could not hide his exuberant outgoing teddy bear conviviality. When we finally sashayed in about an hour after the event had opened, we were prepared for a huge crowd because there were no parking places within a two block radius of the museum.

It was like old home week as a kaleidoscope of familiar faces swirled by. Many were collectors who recognize the special talent of each of the artists and came with an eye to seeing a red dot go up on their choices and a checkbook that could handle paintings requiring four or five K numerals.

When Sasha, the big bear, spotted us, he wrapped his muscular arms around our waist, lifted us up and gave us a whirl we hadn't experienced since we were a kid! Now that's what we call a breathtaking greeting! Sasha and Lyuba have been our special friends from the first year of their immigration to El Paso from St. Petersburg, Russia.

Well-known choral director Bruce Nehring was among those present and we congratulated ourselves for being the first to discover, in 1992, the friendly young couple and their astonishing artistic talent. Along with Lyuba's parents, Marina and Sergey Savitsky, the four were sponsored by Marina's brother, Michael Gelfond, a science professor at UTEP, to emigrate to the United States where they eventually became citizens.

Lyuba's father got a teaching position at UTEP and has since passed away. Marina studies painting with her talented family and her Russian influenced work is seen in their annual student exhibits.

Bruce gave the Titovets their first exhibit space at Loretto Academy where his consort choir performs. We discovered them there with a half dozen paintings on easels in the sanctuary entrance hall at Loretto when we arrived to attend a concert one afternoon. Lyuba had a rudimentary command of English learned in school. Sasha's was almost unintelligible to our ears, but his eager presence and powerful impressionist style won us over immediately.

We wrote about them in a column and from that day forward they've been our special couple to watch. It is only now as they are being honored and exhibited in prestigious galleries from Naples, Fla. to Cincinnati; Carmel, Calif.; Charleston, S. C.; Denver; Santa Fe; New York and Camden, Maine, that we realize what an impact they are making in national art venues. And even at Westminster Abbey, London; Paris; and in their native Russia.

It was from Sasha's Siberian birthplace that many of his grandiose paintings of naked spruce trees in soft snow blankets come alive. In fact, the majesty of trees are given first class settings in many versions of his works. It bears out his goal of perpetuating peace and tranquility in each setting. Lyuba says Sasha "refers to the trees like to the people."

In this museum show red dots (sold) had already gone up on seven of Sasha's enchanting landscapes of trees and mountains by the time we arrived. Some sparkle with jewel-like ambience created by the artist's masterful use of light and color. The stellar anchor work, "No Boundaries," would take $28,000 to hang on your wall. And a bargain at that!

Lyuba's talent lies, not only in replicating the lively, and humorous, folk art of her native Russia, in festive gatherings of remembered scenes, peppered with realistic figures but also in exquisite floral arrangements, awash with subdued color. Red dots were also appearing on her works.

We asked Lyuba what kind of attendance they have at other shows. Her reply: "At the opening at other towns we have great followers and collectors to come to our receptions. We do fund-raiser and demonstrations in Charleston and Cincinnati and other places and watch how people fight over our paintings at the auctions!"

The Titovets have been winning awards and recognition with single and separate showings of their work locally, but this is the first cumulative showing of all of their artistic output. Even so, International Museum honchos ruled against hanging other paintings that were already pre-sold.

"We felt it was really important to us that in our own town the people won't ignore us and we wanted to show what we could do on a big scale. Lyuba explained. "So we wanted to do something important and exciting in El Paso. We hope more people will come and see it before the show closes at the end of the month."

To which we can only add "Amen!"

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