In autumn 1972,1 was employed as an artist at the Research Institute of Economy and Economic-Mathematical Methods of Planning at the State Planning Committee of BSSR. A year later, my first personal exhibition was organised at the Institute owing to its Director, Vitaly Medvedev. The show included about 30 independent pictorial works. As a result, the autumn of 1973 became the starting point in my artistic activity. I worked at the Institute until 1975 when I entered the Belarusian State Theatre-and-Art Institute (from my fourth attempt). My student years were much influenced by People's Artist of Belarus, Head of the Chair of the Monumental-Decorative Art, Prof. Gavriil Vashchenko; Prof. Anatoly Baranovsky; People's Artist, Prof. Vasily Sharangovich. I remember 1976 as itwas the year when I first went abroad to GDR's Berlin, Potsdam, Magdeburg and Dresden. I saw The Sistine Madonna which wasn't kept under glass at that time. I also visited halls showcasing knights' armour of the Middle Ages. The impressions stuck into my memory and, eventually, led to the landmark features of my artistry. In 1977, I had an internship of copying in Novgorod. During my studies at the Institute, I often visited Moscow and Leningrad; the cities filled me with new artistic impressions. The school of monumental aft revealed many secrets in the study of technologies related not only to easel painting. We worked with glass painting and encaustic (wax painting), as well as graphite mosaic, frescos and tapestry and levkas. This is a synthesis of the fine arts and architecture. The school gave me a possibility to theoretically and practically comprehend art as a form of thinking. My art studies finished with the diploma paper encaustic Belarus-in 1980. Since 1980, I was working at artistic workshops of the USSR's Academy of Arts in Minsk under the guidance of the People's Artist of the USSR, Mikhail Savitsky. This lasted until 1984. In 1980, my triptych Recollections of the Motherland was showcased as part of my first republican exhibition in Minsk Nikolay Gusovsky and His Time. In 1981, the 7th All-Union Exhibition of Young Artists organised at the halls if the Moscow Academy of Arts, in Kropotkinskaya Street was the first all-USSR exhibition for me. There, my Nurses was showcased. In 1984, I became a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR (now known as the Belarusian Union of Artists). In 1985, the first informal exhibition Painting Graphics took place at the exhibition hall (7 Pobediteley Ave., Minsk). The catalogue was destroyed under the order of the Minsk City Executive Committee. The same year, as an artistic team we travelled in the Pacific Ocean, from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Vladivostok. We were drawing fishermen's portraits for a month. Our motor-ship approached fishing boats and fishermen were brought to our ship in special boxes. In 1986, my artistic trip to India and Sri Lanka took place. In 1987,1 travelled to Senezh, an artistic base for the Union of Artists of the USSR (near Moscow). In 1988, the second informal exhibition of six artists Painting Graphics took place in Minsk (7 PobediteleyAve.) In 1989, Moscow's Central House of Artists (in Krymsky Vai) hosted an exhibition of paintings by young Belarusian artists. The period from 1980 to 1989 was artistically active. Many exhibitions including the republican, all-Union and foreign (in Italy, Germany and Slovenia)-took place. My lecturing biography at the Belarusian State Theatre-andArt Institute began in 1986.1 initially started working at the Chair of Drawing and, in 1996, began lecturing at the Chair of the Decorative-Applied Art. In 1990-1991, I was scholar of the Norwegian Education Ministry, in the city of Kristiansand. In this period, I studied the Norwegian language and culture, travelled along the country and had exhibitions in Kristiansand, Sogn, Stavanger and Namsos. In Oslo, I visited the National Norwegian Munch Museum. In 1989, I got acquainted with Odd Nerdrum one if the most famous and talented artists in Norway. He proposed me working at his workshop. I drew much in Agder Folkehogskole, Sogn; these are picturesque places, with mountains and fjords, not far from Kristiansand. The Norwegian period of my biography lasted until 1993. In those years, a cycle of works A Man Who Walks and Brings an Idea of His Dimension was the most significant. Some pictures were drawn from nature. In 1995, jointly with the like-minded persons (with whom we became friends during informal exhibitions) I actively participated in the establishment of the Public Association Belarusian Academy of Fine Arts. It united talented Belarusian artists of different generations. I was elected the academician and chief academic secretary of the association. I left the post in 2003 only. In 1993, 1996, 2000-2003, I had my personal exhibitions in Ill Bonn, Cottbus and Bad Salzuflen. In 1995,1 participated in the 2nd International Chagall Plain-Air Plain-Air Art Without Borders in Italian Torre Canavese. in Vitebsk and the International Plain-Air Art Without Borders in Italian Torre Canavese. In 1999, my personal exhibition-Window to the East-took place in Turin's Galleria di San Filippo. It was organised with support of the Belarusian Culture Ministry, Minsk's Museum of Modern Fine Arts, the Belarusian National Art Museum, as well as Associazione Regione, Piemontese Piemonte Arte. From 1999-2000, I had exhibitions in Rome's Sala del Bramante (Piazza del Popolo). In 1999, I was exhibited at Swiss Baden's Anixis Gallery. I had an exhibition and participated in a plain-air. In 2000-2001,1 took part in the International Plain-Air Sky and Land of Ferdinand organised by the Belarusian Academy of Fine Arts (I — Bogdanov, Vishnevo, Volozhin, II — Bogdanov, Vishnevo, Volozhin, Rakov, Minsk).. In 2001, a plain-air was organised in Belynichi to mark the 130,h birthday of K. Belynichsky-Birulya. From 2001 -2002,1 had exhibitions in Italian Fabriano. In 2001, my travel to Egypt strengthened the chosen sign system and was a new impetus for my artistic searches and discoveries. Travelling to different countries transforms the mind and directs it to the synthesis and abstraction in the perception of the reality. It was especially evident in the country where the artistic culture reached high form of sign abstraction. During the 1990s, the theme of letters and historical pages resulted in a large road diary. The noted impressions transformed into a precise scheme of artistic and philosophical analysis. I was searching for a unique artistic stylistics using the plastic sign system. I was looking for my own author's method. In 2000,1 began put my 'letters' into pictorial envelopes. The personal exhibition at Minsk's Art Centre Zhilbel in 2001 featured works characterised by a bright concept Letters of the Time; these were sent to our consciousness through centuries. The figurative system of my works is based on signs and symbols which existed in the history and find confirmation in modern reality. In 2002, I took part in collective exhibitions in Grodno, Lida, Minsk, Paris, Fivizzano (Italy) and Cottbus (Germany). A range of personal shows took place in Borisov, Svetlogorsk and Mogilev. In 2003,1 participated in collective exhibitions in Leipzig and Salzburg. In 2003,1 had a personal exhibition in Minsk, at the National Museum of Belarus' History and Culture. 70 works were on show and the author's album Victor Alshevsky was published. In 2003-2004, fifteen picturesque portraits of Gomel's famous people were created, as part of an author's team. These were made for the hall of solemn sittings at the Gomel Palace-andPark Ensemble. The series of works was nominated for the State Award of Belarus, in the field of literature, art and architecture. In 2004, I became an assistant professor and visited Istanbul, Izmir, Efes, Ankara and Cappadocia as part of an artistic trip. In 2005, the Mastatskaya Litaratura Publishing House published The Impression of Balance, or Ladder Upstairs an author's book about the Universe and artistic philosophy. I became a laureate of the Belarusian Federation of Trade Union's Award, in the field of literature and art for Letters of the Time (2001-2004). From 2005-2006, personal exhibition Efes' Caryatids (50 works) was organised, touring Turkey (Ankara and Istanbul), Germany (Magdeburg, Berlin, Cottbus, Dresden, Munchen and Dusseldorf) and Poland (Warsaw, Walbrzych, Boleslawiec and Biala Podlaska). From 2005-2008, I headed the department at the Modern Design Centre (Keramin Plant). In 2008, I became a Professor of the Chair of the Monumental-Decorative Art at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts. I was a member of the delegation and participant of the Days of Belarus in Syria, Egypt and China. I also participated in a collective exhibition of Belarusian artists in London. In 2009,1 became a laureate of the State Award of Belarus for the series of pictorial works for the hall of solemn sittings at the Gomel Palace-and-Park Ensemble. In 2009, my personal exhibition Legends of Our Civilisation dedicated to the Year of the Native Land was organised in the Mogilev Region (Belynichi, Shklov, Krichev, Osipovichi, Bobruisk and Mogilev). In 2009,1 took part in the International Plain-Air of Pictorial Art named after Maslenikov in Mogilev. In 2009,1 participated in the republican exhibition in Minsk 65 Years of Belarus' Liberation. wi/пенпіы О^^уістскай бежы | gtyat/пенты ^>а6і^і0нск0й башнй | raiments 0/the ^ewer © Впктор Альшевскмй 2010 Печать п переплёт: Польша, „Дроговец-Пл”, Кельце © Victor Alshevski 2010 Print and binding: Drogowiec-PL, Kielce, Poland ^агтенты ^аг/пенты W5-; /Жв •w» 3K?'.jSr'?