Viatcheslav (Slava) and Natalia Tchistilines are internationally acclaimed artists, now residents of Canada.
Slava was born and raised in Russia. Natalia Tchistilines was born and raised in Ukraine. Both attended Ukraine’s prestigious Kharkiv State Institute of Arts and Industrial Design, and both earned Masters degrees in Commercial and Industrial Interior Design. Both artists were originally oil painters, and produced monumental murals in Europe. They also taught.
When they moved to Canada, Slava and Natalia began working in encaustic (from the Greek, enkaustikos, “to burn in”). This technique involves mixing heated paint pigments with melted beeswax. Encaustics were extensively employed in Egyptian bas-relief sculpture and Byzantine icon painting. The medium flourished between the 2nd and 9th centuries A.D., but eventually died out because of its difficult and complicated nature. It has rarely been used in the 1,100 years since.
The husband and wife team registered a corporate identity under the name of SLAVA TCH. As a name, Viatcheslava splits into Viatche, and Slava. In Russian, Slava means glory. The TCH stands for Tone, Color, and Harmony. Together their corporate name, SLAVA TCH, stands for, “The Glory of Tone, Color and Harmony.”
Natalia and Slava synthesize the ancient medium with expressionistic, representational art. Their paintings present their own life-long search for new tones and striking color combinations. While encaustic painting is enjoying a revival, the Tchistilines are not laboring under the sculptural spell of melting wax with pigments. SLAVA TCH uses the sculptural potential of melting wax and pigments to create luminous, three-dimensional worlds in which neo-primitivism and abstract symbolism combine to express a yearning for the ideal, a main theme throughout their canvases. The places depicted seem both mythical and sacramental, resulting in sincere, gem-like paintings that awaken our imaginations. The Tchistilines have proven to be of great interest to collectors and the public on the international art market. This Canadian couple completes one another. They see the world in a similar way and often work closely together. Sometimes Slava’s work takes its direction from Natalia’s designs; sometimes it is affected by her technical or color suggestions. Through the exploration of color, SLAVA TCH produces works that remind one of the nuance, power, and sensitivity found in the masterpieces of Vincent van Gogh, as well as of the appreciation for sensuality of color found in Henri Matisse’s work.
