1967 - 1971 studied at Minsk State Art College named after A. Glebov
1971 - 1977 studied at Belarusian State Theatre and Art Institute under N. Zalozny, A. Malishevsky, and G. Vashchenko
1980 Certificate of Honor from the USSR Artists' Union
1985 member of the Belarusian Union of Artists
Since 1997 Senior Lecturer at the Department of Design of the Belarusian State Academy of Arts
1999 member of the International Guild of Painters
2006 Medal for Contributions to the Fine Arts of Belarus
Since 2007 Associate Professor of the Department of Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts

Ivan Klimenko is a contemporary Belarusian artist and an associate professor in the Department of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts. He works in easel painting and watercolors. Ivan Klimenko's works center on the romance of the sea. Throughout his career the artist has been working on a series of paintings entitled "Joys of the Sea," which includes landscapes, still lifes, and portraits. Ivan Klimenko is able to devote an entire canvas to a small shell or create a picture that is able to combine figurative and abstract art in an amazing way, boldly emphasizing the boundaries of forms using gold leaf. His eclectic use of color and the shapes of his contours emphasize the diverse subjects of his pictures. The rhythm in the artist’s works is based on asymmetry and “syncopated” shifts, which highlight the center of the composition and soften the activity of the background color, which sets off a pronounced contrast. His nudes, which are depicted in poses that are considered traditional for the genre, seem to float in a cloud of colors. Inspired by the works of Giotto and Henri Matisse, the artist pays great attention to the principle of generalization and artistic convention. In his easel paintings and even his watercolors, we are able to feel the architectonics of the fresco with its inherent monumental grandeur. Ivan Klimenko's sincere devotion to art and his enthusiastic attitude for life give the artist the ability to interpret what he sees and experiences through the intense play of colors.

Permanent collections:
National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus
National Center for Contemporary Arts, Belarus
Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada
Institute of Contemporary Art, United States