Sometimes, home isn't where you were born, but where you feel most at home. For artist Igor Zaytsev, that means Petoskey, even though his career has taken him all over the world.
The Igor Zaytsev Fine Art gallery is a gem that sparkles bright in picturesque Petoskey, says its proprietor.
He proudly proclaims no other area boutique boasts such a vast, eclectic collection of different styles of oils on canvas and pencil drawings sketched and brushed at the hand of an internationally renowned artist.
"My artistic style is my take on life," he says. "Much of my work is based on an expression of the abstract--things that that hover on the edge of reality and fantasy."
"I look," he says, "at all of the dimensions of the world and just let my brush go where it takes me. I don't always know what will come of that."
His mediums, oil on canvas and pencil on paper, are a reflection of those thoughts--the thoughts that dance through his dreams while he turns them into reality. They are figurative and non-figurative. They are landscapes and murals.
In 2005, after discovering--and falling in love with--Petoskey quite accidentally during a visit with friends living in Ann Arbor, Zaytsev came from his native Ukraine to live and work in the U.S.
For the next two years, he operated a Petoskey gallery, but finally felt the need to move his operation to New York, where he had begun to spend much of his time anyway--at large shows exhibiting and creating large numbers of fast-selling designs, as well as garnering a healthy number of commissioned pieces.
This architect of artistic innovation had ever been more prolific. The art world sat up straight to take notice.
But in spite of the increased notoriety that accompanied such a boom, Zaytsev longed for home. And Petoskey, for this Ukrainian immigrant, was home.
He did it. He went back home, reopened his studio in 2012 and has never regretted the move.
"I was nostalgic," he says. "I missed the quiet and the peace here in Petoskey. I remembered the excitement of living here. It's exciting to be around people who are your friends. Without the turmoil and the noise and traffic problems in a big city."
Zaytsev continues to travel the world, with exhibits at high-end galleries, and museums and other venues several times a year.
But his roots are planted deeply into the Petoskey soil.
"I love Petoskey--it's beautiful and I am here to stay now. I won't leave again," he says.
Igor Zaytsev Fine Art Gallery is located at 443 E Mitchell Street in Petoskey and more information on Zaytsev and his work can be found
online here.
Kelle Barr is a veteran freelancer from Portage, Michigan. Follow her on Twitter: @BarrKelle
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