B. 1948 - Yuri Gorbechev is one of the brightest and most well known of the artists who came to America from the former USSR. His energy and enthusiasm for Russia and the Ukraine, where he spent the last twenty years of his life in the USSR before moving to the United States, are expressed in his work and help viewers understand emotionally and intellectually the culture which fostered his great energy and talent. Yuri Gorbachev began his career as a Russian ceramics artist. He arrived in the United States from the former USSR in 1991 with little knowledge of the English language and almost no money but with an abundance of his great talent and charisma. After twenty years of working with ceramics he dared to change his medium to oil on canvas. The result was a spectacular success. In 1993 he traveled to the Far East and discovered his true soul and brought these Far East influences back to the rest of the world through his paintings. He incorporated these different worlds and experiences -Russian, American and Asian- into his art, evolving into the unique artist he is today.