Artistic Husband and Wife Team in Hot Demand on Internet

By Karen M. Kinney

Richmond District residents and power couple Ann Perlstrauss and Leonid Korchemsky are sought after world-renowned artists whose creations are sold in prestigious galleries around the world, including Belgium, Russia, Canada and locally in San Francisco. Through their artistry, they have recreated their lifelong adventures and experiences to show the world their true love of living.

Perlstrauss and Korchemsky have been married for more than 20 years. Perlstrauss is strictly an oil painter while Korchemsky specializes in copper structures; he also is a writer and painter, creating three-dimensional painting sculptures replicating winter scenes of his native Russian homeland.

The Korchemskys' one-car garage on 47th Avenue doubles as their studio. The walls are draped with the used screwdrivers Korchemsky uses as his sculpting tools and along the long strip of an old wooden counter sits a make-shift wheel to polish metal. Old cabinets house Perlstrauss' oil paints and easels for her pre-painting drawings. If both want to work at the same time, the car has to be parked outside.

The Korchemskys rise to dominance at online art auction houses artandsoulgallery.com and eBay came fast and was unexpected. Korchemsky started seriously creating one-of-a-kind sculptures using clay figures in 1992.

Korchemsky was born in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and studied to be a civil engineer at Moscow University.

"My father said I was born with a hammer in my hand," Korchemsky said. "I live to build."

Korchemsky's love of architecture spawned a need for him to work more with his "Russian hands." Once broken antique fixtures, like a gramophone and an original 1940-style telephone, are featured in his copper sculptures, which are displayed proudly in the couple's living room and hallway.

"I worked with my hands all my life, but because I was an engineer people didn't think I could make such a thing," Korchemsky said.

He started using copper because he found it more interesting and more "powerful." He likes sculpting older people.

"I like to sculpt the scenes of my life," Korchemsky said. "Young people don't have enough character yet. Older people are more interesting because it's close to me."

Perlstrauss, on the other hand, has been drawing and painting for as long as she can remember. She created her first painting at 15 years old. It is of a floral vase that hangs discreetly above their fireplace, which is surrounded by a lifetime of evolved paintings and artwork.

Perlstrauss was born in Russia in 1939, raised in Shanghai, China and studied art in Vancouver, Canada. Her early impressions were traditional and painted on an even canvas. She gradually moved into Pointillism, a style inspired by French Impressionist Georges Seurat, where she combines many points of color to create a three-dimensional picture that will form and focus the image once the viewer steps back from the painting.

"Pointillism makes it more realistic. It is more powerful than flat pictures and has more life, more pizzazz," said Perlstrauss. "The colors sparkle like jewels. What we see isn't flat. What I see and what evolves here could be quite different."

Unlike her husband, Perlstrauss is more inspired by scenery than portraits for her paintings - San Francisco especially. As she creates a painting, she says more and more of her comes out and what she composes comes from her connection to the original scene.

"When I was in school I had to find myself within my art," says Perlstrauss. "Over time, I knew what I wanted to paint because something moves inside of me and I am able to feel the connection."

Movement, realism and impeccable detail are the main themes of both artists and the style they share most in common. Korchemsky's sculpture "Opening Night" is a sculpture of three street musicians. Perlstrauss' creation of a vibrantly orange, red and yellow colored sunset of the Golden Gate Bridge, titled "Dusk," shows how each work of art brings out a true human experience, a captured moment.

Both artists are passionate about their work and experience much joy when people acquire their art. Perlstrauss' hope is that the collector will embrace the painting and it will remain in their hearts forever.

"I want their grandchildren to know these paintings are a part of me and them and it will live forever," said Perlstrauss.

Korchemsky is more possessive when it comes to his sculptures and is reluctant to let go of his work.

"I don't like to sell because (the sculptures) are like my kids; they talk to me and I feel the need to recreate as soon as possible," he said.

An enormous map hangs on the wall of the artists' studio, with a maze of red tacks carefully placed in all the places they have traveled together. They are determined to continue their travels and to gain inspiration from the world.

"There are so many people who represent different expressions and different people," said Perlstrauss, "We want to surround ourselves with diversity."

The works of Perlstrauss and Korchemsky can be purchased online at www.artandsoulgalleryandshop.com or at the Art Elite Studio in Sausalito.