Vladimir A. Shvartsman

Born in Russia, but not Slovak, he inherited hundred-year-old countrywide anti-Semitism with a tragic outcome of his father dying in his hands, mortally wounded by a policeman.

His scientific investigation of an origin of living cell communications turned into a conflict with communist dogmas and, consequently, with the KGB. That and others were sources of his pains and struggles.

He wrote, “I had only two choices to roar like a wounded creature or start painting. I selected painting. A canvas was my best friend. It had never complained if my story was too long and if I had to start it over and over again.”

In 1977, Shvartsman left Russia and accepted a job in the University of Louisville, where he was supported by NIH grant and built the first supersensitive processor based on his invention “neural-cell technology” for detecting a faint signal from the heart. Now, he works in a small high-tech firm where he continues developing new products and inventing new technologies.

His paintings are, in some way, chronologically depicting his life. His paintings are pictured events of a difficult and dangerous life as well as a reflection of a freethinker and charged emotional individual. When free time occurs, he organizes an art exhibition. Paintings in this book were part of one of his exhibitions in Frankfort, Kentucky.

He writes books and is about to finish A Dirty Body Can Be Washed Off but Not a Dirties Soul. Born Under the Dark Sun, which will be available in 2008.