Creating my works, I use any means and aesthetic categories enhancing impact of the image with regard to its expressiveness; like organization of the elements on the plane, identification of the image structure, its lines and principal spots, figural rhymes and resonances, impression of dramatic struggle of the elements, intensity and unexpected effects of a picture affecting the eye of the audience.

The crucial role is played by the expressiveness of the image rather than by words or the concept at the heart of it. The most important thing for me is how to create such artistic influence of the image so it could “light up people's hearts,” like words of a prophet...reach their consciousness, absorb them, open their eyes to the very essence of human nature. I want all my creations to reflect my spirit.

For me, a human being is the focal point and the pièce de résistance of the arts, that is why I do portraits and “headshots.” The Face is the unique part of the human body. Destruction of a human face evokes strong emotions both in real life and in painting. I do not draw specific people so it's impossible to identify a person in my works. I think that it is the absence of references to specific people that makes it possible for an observer to see an image properly, without any prejudice.

The current Heads series is inspired by human anatomy charts of 17th and 18th centuries. These graphic illustrations created before the advent of cameras made a strong impression on me. I was also inspired by the Victorian photography and the Early Renaissance portraits.

In these paintings is an attempt to capture the appearance along with all the feelings this concrete image evokes in the creator. My painting is always subjective in its deepest sense. When drawing an image you are not only drawing an object or a figure — you are also portraying yourself. Painting is always a two-way process, in which the painter is a filter, an interpreter. He is not an illustrator of reality. Illustration is a priori, a no-win wrong path. My art is always an appeal to subjectivity, not to the cold photographic objectivity.

My painting is not about reproducing reality or existing forms, and not about developing new forms, it is about capturing forces. Forces which inexplicably act on observers, like magic. Auguste Renoir once said, "The most important element in a picture cannot be defined."

Exhibition dates: February 3–April 15, 2017
VIEW & PURCHASE AVAILABLE WORKS ONLINE