The Azov Region

Volodymyr Leonidovych Balakai is a Ukrainian painter. He was born on 24 August 1928 in the village of Styla, Starobeshivskyi district (now Donetsk region, Ukraine). He studied at the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv Art School from 1946 to 1948 and at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts from 1951 to 1953. He began his artistic career in 1956. He became a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine in 2008. The artist took part in numerous all-Union, republic, and regional exhibitions. His solo exhibitions were held in Donetsk in 2000, 2002, and 2006, and in Mariupol in 2002. He worked in the field of easel painting. His notable works include "Park of Donetsk" (1962), "Donetsk Night" (1970), "Bread Field" (1977), "Cry of the Sun" (1996), "And the Temple as Life, and Life as the Temple" (1990), and "Vision of Hellas" (1999). His works are held in museums across Ukraine and in private collections abroad.