Coming to Pavlodar and walking around it has recently become more interesting also because of more and more large-scale drawings appear on the walls: portraits, landscapes, images with deep philosophical meaning or philosophical sayings. They are called murals. Some are easy to enjoy from a distance, while others can be approached to see details or read inscriptions. According to 2GIS, there are 43 large graffiti drawings in Pavlodar.
Recently, on the central street of Pavlodar - on Satpayev, right next to the post office - a huge portrait of a girl, appeared right across the street. The picture of the girl wearing in a white blouse, with hair pulled back in braids and a playful glance towards the sign "Happiness" (the name of the store) has become the most favorite of the citizens. It is decorated with stylized words "I love Pavlodar" in English with a heart instead of the word "love" and a picture of a patchwork quilt. It is known that the prototype of the image was an eight-year-old girl named Inju, who is in the third grade of a local school and is engaged in rhythmic gymnastics. This work was performed by Almaty artists Yerzhan Tanaev and Ali Zakir from the "Tigrohaud-cru" team. Image address: Satpayev street, 46.
Right across the road, in the arch of a residential building, there is a beautiful portrait of the Soviet rock legend Viktor Tsoi. And there is a quote from his words: “People cannot think in the same way, but they must understand each other. That's why they are people». According to press reports, the portrait was made by Pavlodar graffiti masters Vladimir Zubko, Evald Merk (known as Chrome in Pavlodar) and Ruslan Kasimov (Faster) on the 29th anniversary of the musician's death. The work is done in the style of pop art. Image address: Satpayev street,37.
On the opposite side of the same house, the butt is decorated with a picture called "Bird-fish". It was painted in 2016 by the artist Pavel Kas from Almaty. He is the first non-Pavlodar street art master who made a mural in this city. On the wall, he depicted a fish with bird wings in a gas mask, hovering over the chimneys of factories with a poisonous red smoke. Local journalists say that the image symbolizes the complicated ecological situation in the city: people, animals, birds suffer from industrial pollution. But officials are silent like fish and do not make any effort to change the situation. Image address: Satpayev street, 37.
If you cross the Central Square, near a Central Department Store, you can see a «social» drawing four stories high. It is intended to remind to citizens to live without corruption. This mural was made by the airbrushing studio «My Style» of Pavlodar entrepreneur and volunteer Anton Tolchin. This is the first Pavlodar company, which performed the so-called mural in the city, that is, a large-scale drawing several floors high, agreed with the city authorities. Image address: Satpayev street, 57.
If we turn towards the Embankment, cross the Central Square you can see a structure decorated with a Japanese landscape with a pagoda. The entrance is guarded by a painted little dragon. According to A. Tolchin, the airbrushing studio had been discussing the sketch of the pagoda with the authorities since 2012. Only 5 years later, in 2017, artists were allowed to depict this oriental exoticism.
In the southern part of Pavlodar in honor of the 175th anniversary of the great poet and thinker Abai Kunanbayev, his portrait was painted by Almaty artists. In the city, by the way, there are now several portraits of Abai. Image address: Zhayau Musa street, 7.
We'll go East. On the corner of Lomov and Kataev streets there is a touching portrait of a girl in a tunic. She was accidentally seen and photographed at the parade on Victory Day in 2010 by Pavlodar artist and teacher Olga Kerimova. Later, the master found her image so attractive, pure and light that she painted a portrait of the baby. Oksana Kerimova wanted to give her work to the girl, but did not know how to find her. Then she gave the picture to the regional art museum, whose staff wanted to help her find the young heroine. The search took several years. To do this, the press, schools and kindergartens were connected. The problem was that the people didn't know the girl's name or age. In April 2020, Museum workers began searching for her again through social networks – the girl's relatives responded. Turns out her name is Nurhayat Baltabayeva. She is already in school; the girl is 13 years old, and in the portrait – only three years old. The heroine was found, and Olga Kerimova handed her a portrait. Drawing address: Lomova street 147.
If you go along Kataeva street, you can find a landscape with a sea lighthouse on the entire wall of a four-story house. This is the result of a project implemented through crowdfunding, that is, the voluntary found-raising. Thus, at the end of the warm season, Anton's airbrush Studio was able to create another attraction. The lighthouse was so well depicted that when a light is turned on, it looks like there is real lighthouse on the sea. Drawing address: Kataev street55.
Let's cross the road and go back a little. Here, an old man is drawn planting seedlings. The author of the work, Anton Tolchin, says that people call him "Tolstoy", but the girls in the courtyard said that it was Michurin. By the way, the Pavlodar journalist Lyudmila Bayusheva claims that this is an illustration to the story-parable of Leo Tolstoy «The old man and the apple trees». «The old man was planting apple trees. He was asked: «Why do you need apple trees? It is a long time to wait for fruit, and you will not eat the apples». The old man said: «I will not, but others will, and they will thank me». The drawing is made in black and white, just like the picture from an old children's book. According to Anton, the client who ordered them this mural, wanted to depict exactly this way. He said, he had a book as a child, with a picture that was remembered for many years, and he want to see it on the wall. So they drew it. The address of the picture: street Kataeva, 44/2.
Finally, leaving Pavlodar, near the railway station, you will see a beautiful Golden eagle with a bird in his hands. All drawings of Anton Tolchin's airbrush Studio were made by the famous artist Konstantin Alexandrov. The design of the lighthouse and pagoda on Astana street was thought out by Lyubov Lapteva. The idea to depict a girl in a military uniform belongs to Anton Tolchin himself, and "Tolstoy", as mentioned above, is the client's idea. The image of berkutchi, although created together with the fighters of the youth labor groups "Zhasyl El", also belongs to Anton. There are projects that were thought out and applied by Konstantin.
Come and see these and many other drawings on the walls of Pavlodar!
How to get there! All the drawings described can be easily reached by city buses, minibuses, or trams. You can walk between the pagoda, the girl in the white blouse, the Tsoi, the fish-bird and the anti-corruption Murals. To the portrait of Abay, you can go by bus 21 or 22. To the child in a tunic will quickly take the minibus 115, as well as from it to the lighthouse. You can walk from the lighthouse to Lev Nikolaevich. Then five minutes to Nazarbayev Avenue and by tram - to the stop "Center "Shanyrak", where you can take photos with berkutchi and walk to the station (car and railway).