From far away, the picture may appear like any other painting: colorful, bright, and, like all other images, flat. But stepping closer, strange things begin to happen. Images appear to merge outside of the frame, bodies and faces protruding from the canvas. Details are everywhere, every inch of the tableau helping to illustrate the scene. Nose against the frame, you realize it is three-dimensional: a technique created by George O. Pocheptsov ’14.
“I love when people get lost in my drawings,” Pocheptsov says, his voice slightly above the din of the Saturday afternoon crowd at Lamont Café. “You can use modeling paste to mold unstretched canvas into a shape or a face, and if you paint on top that, you end up with this three dimensional type of canvas piece.”
Pocheptsov started to paint before he could walk or talk. After his father passed away from brain cancer when he was a toddler, Pocheptsov kept himself occupied with colored pencils and paper. When he was one, he drew a replica of an antique car across the street, which caught the eye of a gallery owner, who started selling his work. “I’m very fortunate that I was introduced to the right people at the right time,” Pocheptsov acknowledges. “Nobody in my family really had professional advice, so it’s been a wild ride.”
Twenty years later, Pocheptsov has reached a level of recognition that few artists ever do. He has been labeled a child prodigy and compared to a young Pablo Picasso. He has received commissions to paint for Hillary Clinton, Michael Jordan, and even the United Nations for their 60th anniversary. He has donated eight million dollars to charity solely from the money earned through the sale of his artwork.
Pocheptsov has not limited himself only to art. Since freshman year he has played on the Harvard polo team, which he joined with minimal previous experience. He has created two paintings depicting the polo team, one of which was presented to Tommy Lee Jones ‘69, a team sponsor.
Pocheptsov acknowledges that polo is a unique example of art and his other interests merging. “Most people assume that an artist ties everything back to artwork,” he says.
But instead of concentrating in Visual and Environmental Studies, Pocheptsov pursued a joint concentration in statistics and slavic languages and literatures.
Faced with the impossible task of balancing a full college course load and an art career, Pocheptsov acknowledges his commitment to painting sometimes comes second. “It’s hard to not turn in a problem set,” he says. “It’s a bit easier to postpone an art project for next month.”
Still, he maintains there’s ample free time for art, most notably during vacations. “If I have time to do an artwork, I’ll do an artwork,” Pocheptsov says. “If you really love something, it’s easier to find time to do it.”
