Nikolay Bondarchuk was born in the village of Srednie Pechi, Gomel Region, in the center of Polesye, between Mozyr and Turov on October 25, 1952. He was brought up in a traditionally large family with 8 children. Moreover, it was a creative, musical family, where everyone played the button accordion. He finished the Republican Boarding School for Music and Fine Arts named after Ivan Akhremchik in 1971. He graduated from the Belarusian State Theater and Art Institute (Department of Monumental and Decorative Art) in 1976. He has been a member of the Union of Artists of the Republic of Belarus since 1985. He has been participating in art exhibitions since 1975. The artist works in the field of monumental and decorative art, and easel painting.
As an artist, a teacher at the Grodno College of Arts and the chairman of the Grodno regional branch of the Union of Artists of Belarus, Nikolay Bondarchuk is known far beyond the borders of Grodno region. He combines pedagogical work with significant social activities. He became a laureate of the Aleksandr Dubko Award ‘For Creative Achievements in the Field of Culture’ of the Grodno Regional Executive Committee in the nomination ‘Teacher of the Year’ in 2005, and in the nomination ‘Artist of the Year’ in 2017. He is awarded with the Francysk Skaryna Medal (2015), the Belarusian Union of Artists Medal ‘For Merit in the Fine Arts’, as well as diplomas of the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus. Nikolay Bondarchuk was awarded the honorary title ‘Honored Artist of the Republic of Belarus’ in 2020.
Nikolay Bondarchuk holds a dialogue with the audience. He puts meaning and encodes information in details that begin to give reading of thoughts. The author’s works are famous for their constructive clarity, expression of form and harmonious color system. The artist calls his style associative realism. He unites interest in the epic and lyrical landscape. Nikolay Bondarchuk is fond of experiments, and he discovers something new. A special place in his work is occupied by war and patriotic works, which reveal the desire for a more emotional and spiritually intense art.
Nikolay Bondarchuk’s works are in the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, the National Center for Contemporary Art of the Republic of Belarus, the State Historical and Cultural Institution ‘Gomel Palace and Park Ensemble’, the Mogilev Regional Art Museum named after P. V. Maslenikov, the Vitebsk Regional Museum of Local Lore, the Grodno State Historical and Archaeological Museum, in the funds of the Belarusian Union of Artists, as well as in the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Poland and the Arsenal Gallery (Bialystok, Poland), the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum (Kaunas, Lithuania), the Belgorod State Art Museum (Belgorod, Russia), the Chuvash State Art Museum (Cheboksary, Russia), the I. E. Repin Memorial Art Museum (Chuhuiv, Ukraine), in private collections in Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Denmark.
