Zinour Fathoullin

Artist

Often called a “Renaissance Man”, Siberian artist Zinour Fathoullin has achieved excellence in both fine art and dance.

Born and educated in the former Soviet Union (Russia), Zinour Fathoullin is classically trained in art and dance. After graduating from art college in 1979 with a degree in fine art, he was promptly hired by the government as an artist. His installations include graphic works for State advertisements, metal and wood reliefs, mosaics, stained glass compositions and oil portraits.

Since moving to Canada in 1990, Zinour established a dance school in Shelburne, Ontario and an internationally acclaimed dance company (Sikumiut) in Nunavut. While living in Nunavut from 1996 to 2001, Zinour taught art and dance for Nunavut Arctic College’s Teacher Education Program. Successful exhibitions of his paintings, sculptures and portraits have been held in Russia, the Ukraine, Greenland, Alaska, Belgium, France, New York, Nunavut, Toronto and Calgary. Commissioned works are currently installed in the Nunavut Legislature (Series of oil on canvas images of Circumpolar Inuit), the Premier of Nunavut’s Office, Ravenwood Oil and Gas, Integrated Environments Ltd., The Calgary Board of Education and various private collections.

Zinour has been awarded grants from the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Art Councils, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts as well as the Canada Arts Council. Dance commissions include collaborations with Susan Aglukark and Paul Brandt.

Since moving to Calgary, Zinour has continued to work with marginalised youth in Calgary schools and the Calgary Young Offender’s Centre as an artist-in-residence. Collaborative creations include dance compositions of all genres, totem poles, self-portraits, drums and large papier mache sculptures.

“ In his portraits of the Elders of Nunavut, he depicts the human landscape with brushwork that is complex but with an equipoise and form which reveals the simplicity he reveres”. (Kit Bennett, Craft Arts International No. 63, 2004)

Zinour was announced as being in the top 30 artists in Canada in June 2009.

An exhibition of his and others’ works will be hosted by the Art Gallery of Calgary from January 29 to April 17, 2010.