BEIJING, July 7. /TASS/. Russian entrepreneur and public figure Viktor Bout says that without painting, he doesn't know how he would have survived his decade-and-a-half-long stint in American prison.
An exhibition of his works entitled "My Coast is a Thin Line" is being held at the Beijing Millennium State International Exhibition Center.
"In a confined space where you can see the sky only through barbed wire, where you’re far from your homeland, where no one speaks Russian, where you can talk to your loved ones only on the phone and only once every two weeks for about fifteen minutes, you need something to soothe your soul, you have to find another world, another reality," Bout told TASS in an interview. He used painting to stay grounded, as, according to Bout, it helped him stay connected with "the Motherland and loved ones."
In prison, Bout said, there was a program for prisoners that allowed them to buy pencils, paint, and paper. "In general, most people there are trying to find something to do - some people painted, and some people crocheted or made crafts," he said.
Bout sent his artworks to his family through the staff of the Russian embassy in Washington who visited him. He gave away some pictures as gifts, while some pictures were lost during detention. During the years he spent in American prison, he created about 300 paintings and drawings in various artistic techniques: graphite and colored pencils, pastel, watercolor, acrylic and oil.
The exhibition at the Beijing Exhibition Center consists of more than 50 works of art, including images of loved ones, portraits of Soviet film characters and legendary pilots drawn from memory, images of combat aircraft and memorable corners of Russia. Visitors are also interested in the patriotic posters Bout compiled from newspaper clippings, his personal belongings, books he read in detention in the United States, as well as letters of support received from Russians and foreigners, including Americans.
In 2022, Bout was exchanged for American basketball player Brittney Griner.
Exhibitions of Bout's works were held in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sevastopol, Chita, Ryazan, Ulyanovsk and other Russian cities.