Yaroslav Kolobaev was born in Moscow in 1970, and belongs to that small group of artists for whom technique and instinct developed side by side. He graduated from the Moscow Art School and later from the Moscow State Academic Art Institute named after V. I. Surikov, one of the most demanding and prestigious art academies in Russia. His training gave him a strong classical foundation, but Kolobaev’s true education began long before his diploma: in stables, kennels, zoos and hunting fields.
From childhood he was drawn to horses and dogs. He rode, observed, sketched, and studied animals not only as forms but as living structures: anatomy, movement, balance, behavior. Long before he was a professional painter, he understood that an animal cannot be painted convincingly if it is not understood deeply. This early passion shaped his entire artistic path.
Kolobaev is known as a painter of animals, especially dogs and horses, but his work never falls into mere illustration. His canvases show tension, speed, character and individuality. He worked closely with stud farms, cynological centers and breeders, spending hours watching the ways muscles move under skin, the rhythm of gait, the silent communication between man and animal. His accuracy is not academic coldness: it is empathy and knowledge translated into line and colour.
He has participated in major exhibitions including Equiros and Horse Crossroads, held a personal exhibition at the Central House of Artists in Moscow, and was featured in “Equestrian Fine Art” in London. His paintings are represented in Moscow galleries such as Gostiny Dvor and Ryabovexpo, and circulate widely among collectors of animal and sporting art. Today his work is recognized internationally by riders, hunters, trainers and art enthusiasts who see in his paintings not fantasy, but truth.
Although he has the résumé of an academic painter, Kolobaev does not belong to any artistic union. He works independently, without institutional affiliation and without a school to defend. His loyalty is to the subjects he paints: the power of the galloping horse, the intelligence of the hound, the moment when instinct becomes movement.
For that reason, his paintings are not simply images of animals. They are portraits of living presence.
