Events that made the headlines in turn grabbed Vladimir Kolosov's attention.
Instead of brooding over the evil of mankind or lamenting a loss of life, he found solace through a paint brush.
"All of my paintings are spontaneous," Kolosov says as he tries to explain what inspired the work in his latest show, titled Exceptions.
The massacre on the island of Utoya in Norway sparked a painting that delved into madness.
An earthquake near Bologna, Italy, made Kolosov contemplate the richness of being "Alive."
"Exceptions is a show that is most representative of my artistic activity," says Kolosov, who moved with his family to Maple Ridge from Moscow in 2006.
"There is the good and the bad, there is mathematics, global developments, music and religion."
Although they appear surrealistic, almost Dali-esque, Kolosov's paintings chronicle situations that are very real.
Even the ordinary inspires him.
"If you try to find connections between objects and people, people and events, you will immediately discover very interesting things that could be more interesting than the object or event itself," says Kolosov, a member of the South Delta Artists Guild and Garibaldi Arts Club. His work has also been featured in juried exhibitions in Delta and Maple Ridge.
Born in the former U.S.S.R., Kolosov studied painting, sculpture and music at Moscow's Fine Arts Youth School, a program that ran parallel to a regular primary and secondary education.
It was a time when only one movement was official approved and supported – socialist realism with a mission to further of the goals of socialism and communism.
It prompted Kolosov to investigate other art movements.
He was drawn to surrealists, whose works featured unexpected juxtapositions and dream-like imagery.
"I follow this style because I like people to think," says Kolosov, who counts Turner, Picasso, Serov and many 19th and early 20th century Russian artists among his influences.
Although he studied art, Kolosov abandoned his dreams for a life steeped in creative pursuit for a more practical one as a mathematician.
When Perestroika began dismantling the Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist state, Kolosov seized the opportunity to study business.
He currently works as a consultant and is self-employed.
“Thinking in itself is a positive process. Not thinking is negative. I use my mathematical knowledge everyday because you can see the links between different things,” says Kolosov.
“I hope by doing my paintings and showing them, I do something positive because I push them to think.”
• Exceptions, a show featuring the paintings of Vladimir Kolosov, is at the Maple Ridge library, Unit 130 22470 Dewdney Trunk Road until Sept. 30.