3 Reasons Why Art Collectors Love the Works of Slava Ilyayev
“Pathway to Daydreams ver.CCIII” (2020), Slava Ilyayev
If you enjoy the works of artist Slava Ilyayev, you’re not alone. His amazing oil paintings have won the hearts of collectors all over the world.
But have you ever asked yourself WHY Ilyayev’s paintings are so popular?
We asked that question to Former Park West Gallery Director, David Gorman, and he gave us three interesting reasons why collectors absolutely adore Slava Ilyayev.
1). The Color Red
Ilyayev paints with a predominantly warm color palette that almost always incorporates the color red.
It could just be Ilyayev’s personal preference or it could be by design, but it’s a known fact in the art world that collectors consider red the most desirable color in a painting.
“A Tent of Brightly Coloured” (2017), Slava Ilyayev
Cheyenne Westphal, chairman of Contemporary Art Europe at Sotheby’s, told the UK Telegraph that, “Red is the most emotive colour in art. It’s powerful, it’s lucky in many nations … We’ve often seen a price correlation in that red paintings have performed better than other works.”
The color red has a lot of other attractive qualities as well. It’s one of the least common naturally occurring colors (so, when we see it, we’re drawn to it), and red is historically thought to symbolize everything from passion to beauty.
“A Beautiful Town to Walk” (2019), Slava Ilyayev
2). Landscapes in Oil
Landscapes are widely considered to be one of the most popular and best-selling subjects for paintings. Some of the most famous paintings in the world—from Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” to Monet’s “Water Lillies”—are landscapes, and Ilyayev’s paintings carry on that long tradition.
The appeal of Ilyayev’s landscapes is only magnified by his use of oil paints, which is held by art collectors to be one of the most collectible mediums in art.
“Lovely Forest” (2018), Slava Ilyayev
“There’s an inherent value in an oil painting,” says Gorman. “It’s not a new medium—it’s been collected for over 500 years. When you see an oil painting, you know it took someone an extended period of time to create. With Ilyayev, his thick, lavish applications of oils are incredible. It’s an oil painting that slaps you in the face.”
“Lake” (2014), Slava Ilyayev
3). Universal Subject Matter
Yes, Ilyayev paints desirable subjects in desirable colors using a desirable medium, but those aren’t the only reasons why collectors feel so drawn to the artist’s work.
Ilyayev’s compositions are deceptively simple. You can break them down in just a few essential elements—the trees, the people, the surrounding landscape—but Ilyayev is a master at giving those elements a certain universal appeal.
Detail from one of Ilyayev’s paintings.
“Look at one of his paintings,” says Gorman. “You have two people who are left unidentified. They could be any gender or race. Their relationship is left up to you. They’re walking down a symbolic path that they could be traveling for any number of reasons. Combined with its colors and medium, it’s essentially all of the elements someone would look for in a painting wrapped up in a single composition. It’s an ideal addition to any collection.”
If you’re interested in collecting the art of Slava Ilyayev, attend one of our exciting online auctions or contact our gallery consultants at (800) 521-9654 ext. 4 during business hours or sales@parkwestgallery.com.
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