Under Soviet regime of 70-90 years, the artist painted several patriotic and history paintings. The first such painting was the graduation work in the Academy of Arts - "The Stout-Hearted. Writers of Ukraine Ivan Franko, Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, Lesia Ukrainka", which was exhibited at the all-Union exhibition of graduation works, then the pictures were painted, dedicated to the civil war - "We Prepared the Horses for the March", and the to the Great Patriotic War "Between the Battles", "In the Forest near the Front". The works of the Soviet period, dedicated to Lenin, also included his significant picture "Ulianov's Youth." And this artist's interest in history was a kind of dialogue between the past and the present, which he clearly stated in the following pictures: "Cadets. Memories of Parents", "Among the Peaceful Birches", "Sunny Land", "Labour Victory", "Youth","Young Metallurgists", "Spring ". But the main thing, obviously, was that the artist in these thematic canvases remained himself, with his view of the past and present, with a talent to connect man and nature in the situation that became the imagery of the painting and influenced the viewer with the mood embracing the artist.

In 1985, for his active artistic activity, S. Fomenok was awarded the title of the Honoured Artist of Ukraine.

By a twist of fate, from 1996, S. Fomenok lives and works in Germany in the city of Munich. In his works the artist continues realistic traditions of the world's culture fine arts. His work is fruitful and serious. Each painting passes a difficult path from a sketch to the finished image. His paintings are riddled with the joy of perception of beauty, the warmth of the images, and always have a clear, weighty composition. He praises poetics, freshness and purity of romantic nature - whether it's a genre picture, a portrait, a landscape or a still-life.

In all genres of his paintings you can see the joy of the sunny land, the garden and people who live in harmony in this environment. His paintings can be compared to music. He conveys the excitement, which can also be caused by music, makes us hear the trembling of leaves, see the fascination of a sunny day, the endlessness of a flowering meadow, the richness of the colour pallette of nature. And today this trend can be called a romantic post-impressionism. The emotional perception of nature and his rare colouristic talent, which to a large extent is ensured by a skillful knowledge of colour, is the secret of the freshness and joy that the artist's paintings show.

Achieving in his paintings a subtle colour harmony with a realistic artistic method, S. Fomenok conveys the beauty, the weight of objects or their lightness with the colour. Each time he finds the balance of shades that not only truthfully convey the colour variety of the world, physical features of the objects, but are also an expressive way to pass the moods of the artist.

1. S. Fomenok is a lyrical artist, with an optimistic view, with unrelenting interest in the surrounding life, to the world of things around a person. To the artist, genre painting is one of the most important and significant types of fine art. And probably this long-time passion, made him an artist of the genre art. Each work of the master always conveys excitement, sincere impulse, love for the plot and professional performance. Particularly successful are the paintings where the artist combines the lines showing people in nature. That is, the children in the garden, the meadow and the sea, the beautiful figures of women in the open air, the theme of resting in nature and in city coffee shops, plastic ballet stories. "Rest in the Garden", "Spring", "Children Playing at Sea", "The Meadow is Blooming," "In Summer at Sea", "On the Terrace", "In the Balllet Class." All pictures amaze with a truthful reflection of life, which is confirmed by the considerable plein-air material of etudes and sketches.

Art works of the artist are contemporary and reproduce our time, our coeval, our present. A tireless search, the longing for imagery is also observed in his portrait genre. As a portraitist, S. Fomenok knows how to penetrate into human soul. He depicts people he knows well, or with whom he has been long acquainted with. His portraits are a synthesis of observations on a person, they are devoid of deliberateness and contrivedness, always truthful and certain. The artist's dialogue with the model always corresponds to the time in which the model and the artist live. He affirms the dignity of a person, comprehending the complexity of human spiritual world in the person being portrayed. All this is expressed in a psychological characteristic, in the composition structure and in its always particular classical trend. "Mother's Portrait", "Bride", "Ballerina", "Spaniard Woman", "The Girl Wearing A Hat", "Portrait of Wife", "A Girl and Poppies". His portraits are characterized by lyricism and intimacy, which is especially evident in female portraits, as well as in nude paintings. Going beyond the intimacy, they affirm the significance and versatility of the world of our contemporary. "Lady in a Pink Dres", "Lying Nude", "Sunlit", "In the Garden", "Resting in a Hammock", "Morning Dressing", "Naked by the Sea", "On the Terrace", "Charm."

The artist deeply emotionally paints landscapes, skillfully recreates on the canvas the most characteristic features of the depicted objects, as well as the integrity and optimism of his own view of nature. Communication with nature enriches his artistic palette, awakens creative inspiration in him. In the landscape paintings, he creates an artistic image of nature, in which he reveals his multi-faceted and diversified inner world. In landscapes he reveals a happy sunny beauty of the mother nature, the charm of its forests, fields, rivers, landscape, the cities he likes most, a notable example of which are the sunny landscapes of Venice and the sea with its constant movement, charming play of colours, unique plasticity of waves. Here we see an elegant play of light on the surface of the sea, and a clear glow of dawns and a gloomy sky before a thunderstorm, and the humidity of the stone on the shore. The emotional and aesthetic attitude to the nature and its image on canvas is reproduced by the artist in the statement of his concept of ​​the beauty of the world around him. "Willow in Bloom", "Birch Wood", "Golden Autumn", "The Thaw", "The Last Snow", "Spring in the Forest", "Spring Flood", "Sunny Venice", "Summer Evening", "Old Crimea", "Winter Road", "Sea Tide", "Rainy Day", "Mountain Landscape".

Winter and summer, spring and autumn - with all the variety of themes these works have in common the desire to convey the harmony of a man and the nature. And so he often introduces people into the landscape, as if emphasizing this unity. From all the seasons, the artist loves spring most, when in March the last snow still remains, when nature is woken up by the first warm sun rays and the first green grass appears, along with the leaves in the trees and the fresh spring air.

In spring, the artist always has a particular mood, an inspiration to paint still-life pictures along with the landscapes. Still-life paintings by S. Fomenok are characterised by the joy of being, a subtle colour scheme, vibrant colour palette, fullness of light and air. The artist enjoys the generous opportunities that plein air offers, relying in his work on the achievements of the Impressionists, and therefore many of his still-life paintings are created in the nature. The objects and their environment are depicted in the landscape space, as if combining with it. This is the artist's favourite composition technique. S. Fomenok paints a lot of flowers and this became an expression of his boundless love for nature: "Lilac in Bloom", "White Peonies", "Roses in Garden", "Wildflowers", "Cornflowers and Chamomiles", "Irises", "Sword Lilies", "Bird Cherry in Bloom", "Lilac and Tulips", "Poppies".In every still-life, something new is revealed to him. When painting the flowers, the artist keeps on moving ahead, always finds new faces, changing colours, shades of colours, and their characteristic features. Made with love and deep knowledge of nature, his still-life paintings are the real artistic beauty of his work.

One can speak about Stanislav Fomenok as a significant master of painting and a lyricist known in Ukraine and abroad. His work is characterised by a broad romantic and poetic source, deep emotionality of images, richness and decorative effect of colour. Exactingness and creative search, high professional culture, optimism and continuation of the traditions of the classical realistic art of impressionism are the hallmarks of the artist's work.

His paintings are in Ukrainian museums, private collections, both in Ukraine and in many foreign countries: Germany, England, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, Japan, the USA and other countries. He continues to paint the true life, poetic, joyful pictures, dedicating them to his people and his present. Every year S. Fomenok comes to Ukraine to his native cities to restore in his soul the memories of youth, drink spring water, breathe the fresh air of his native land. He loves the nature of the earth and people in all their diversity, as a faithful, grateful son loves his mother - infinitely, faithfully, gently and reverently. And the main thing for him today is not to betray the beauty, sunshine, excitement and exalted mood with which he came to art in his younger years.

Larisa Bondar. Art critic