The story of Anatoliy Fatakhov is one of resilience and strength. It reminds me of the story of Joseph from the Torah of where he had to go through his trials in order to be brought to his calling. It was during those trials that Hashem prepared Joseph for leadership. Had Joseph not been thrown into the pit by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused and incarcerated he would not have been able to save the nation during the famine in Egypt. Had Anatoliy not gone through his journey he would not have discovered his talent as an incredible artist whose style is very similar to Picasso.
As many of you know Anatoliy Fatakhov is not a conventional artist, he did not study art his whole life. He has a PhD in economics from Tashkent University and a degree in nuclear medicine that he got in the United States. He worked at St.John’s hospital and when the hospital laid him off he began to work for a private practice. When he started working there he had no idea that the FBI were already investigating the practice for fraud. On December 13th, 2016 Anatoliy was arrested and was charged with conspiracy to commit fraud. He was not at fault, but since he was working there he was considered a co-conspirator.
In 2017 Anatoliy was sentenced to15 months at Otsville Federal Correction Institution. While he was serving his sentence he discovered his artistic talent. Art became his coping mechanism to deal with the stress of everything that happened. He did not have any tools so he used a mouse’s tail as a paint brush and beet juice as paint. He began painting and could not stop.
Upon his release in July of 2018, a few of his paintings were sent to Italy where they were sold for 1,800 Euro. After his first exhibition in Rome, Anatoliy’s career as an artist quickly took off. He started to paint without learning basic skills and he was named as “the second Picasso” by art experts in Italy and among Russian-American community. He was recognized by radio talk shows as well as local newspapers. His works were displayed at multiple institutions and some of them ended up in private collections.
Its 2024 and Anatoliy is a very highly sought after artist who continues to amaze the world with his incredible Picasso styled art. Sometimes we find ourselves and our purpose during the toughest times.