«Today was surgery»: Last poster artist forced out

Vasily Chebotarev, one of the last movie poster artists, has resigned from the Druzhba Center of Culture and Leisure (TsKD Druzhba) in Kamyshin. A man whom the industry never replaced with a printer, he left the profession for health reasons, leaving no successors.

This was reported by Nadezhda Veligodskaya, director of the Druzhba Center of Culture and Leisure in the Volgograd Region. The health problems that led him to leave the profession began to manifest as early as December.

«Everything that is being written about us firing him because there is no money for paint is nonsense. He retired because he is ill. Due to his age, he has joint problems. He was on sick leave all of December, and after the holidays he came and wrote a resignation letter.»

Today, according to the director, Vasily underwent surgery and is already feeling better. Whether he will return to the canvas is unknown for now. There are also no candidates for his position. Vasily Chebotarev«s works have not gone anywhere and continue to hang in the Druzhba hall.

«Any creative person understands that if they come to us, they will be compared to Vasily Yevgenievich. But I can«t just take someone and make them draw a parody of Vasily, can I? So for now, we don»t plan to hire anyone.»

For those who don«t know, Vasily Chebotarev is a renowned artist who for the last 15 years painted posters for new movie releases in the style of Soviet posters from the 1980s. His works cover all of Kamyshin, as besides movie posters, he also painted many walls and halls in the city. We covered his life in detail in our big article.