2 minute read
ART BEAT
AVENTURIST
ART BEAT True Colors
AN AUTISTIC AVENTURA TEEN LETS HIS ART DO THE TALKING
BY JESS SWANSON
At his easel overlooking a window in his parents’ Aventura home, Viktor “Vichy” Bevanda clutches a green oil pastel in a tight fist and rubs it vigorously onto a canvas as if he were grating cheese. The 14-year-old’s movements appear fervent and chaotic but, in a few hours, the bright emerald and turquoise hues will come together as a colorful Pop Art iguana.
“Some artists have told me that it’s very difficult to hold the pastels with a fist and mix the colors,” explains Viktor’s mother, Andrea Bevanda, as she peers over her son’s shoulder. “Viktor is self-taught. He’d draw with crayons before, and then we realized he was really good and found oil pastels for him.”
When Viktor was 5 years old, he was diagnosed with autism. It was around this time that his family noticed his extraordinary ability to draw and incorporate colors in ways that far surpassed other children his age. Nine years later, his mother believes her son is a savant, a rare phenomenon among people with developmental disorders who reveal an exceptional and unexplained talent or skill.
Viktor doesn’t like loud noises and often wears headphones in public to tune them out. He is nonverbal, but his mother stresses that doesn’t mean he can’t communicate. She points to her son’s paintings, which depict the soulful eyes of a dog, the powerful growl of a hippo, and the shy glance of a horse.
“He is not independent in other things, but he is amazing at drawing and painting,” Andrea says. “With art, he can show his true feelings and express himself without words.”
In 2018, the Bevanda family moved to Aventura from Serbia. Andrea is a former marketing executive; her husband, Boris, founded Bevanda Tennis and offers private tennis lessons to rising athletes. Two years ago, in the midst of homeschooling her children during COVID-19, Andrea began posting her son’s artworks on Instagram and TikTok, where he has amassed millions of likes and thousands of followers under the handle @Vichys_Art. By popular demand, the family launched a website to sell prints of Viktor’s works to fans and supporters as far away as Japan and New Zealand.
Viktor recently began accepting custom orders, and an art teacher is introducing the young artist to other mediums besides oil pastels. If Viktor’s passion for art continues, his family hopes galleries and curators will help advance his career.
“Viktor’s really joyful and has a really good and bright energy that most people don’t see because sometimes he likes to be alone and closes himself in his own world,” says Viktor’s older brother, Boris Jr. “A lot of people see what Viktor can’t do, not what he can do.” (vichysart.com) «
