Working Process

“How long does it take you to create one piece?”. I often hear this question and the closest answer is “from a few weeks to a few years”. I will give you one example. 

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I started this painting in 2010, finished it in 2017 and added some subtle glazes in 2018. It is supposed to be a portrait of my oldest Moscow friend, the only one remaining from my homeless days. His story is even darker than mine.

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During the seven years we rented together a couple of different apartments, he complained about the smell of turpentine, I was too egoistical to quit and kept painting him in oil. I also became best friends with his girlfriend and made her portraits as well. 

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I was painting all my numerous flatmates, but this guy was particular difficult to depict. I tried to put our warm friendship feelings on the canvas, but also not forget about his drama. In the end, drama won. 

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The great advantage of using oils is that you can keep coming back to one work and add almost as many layers as you want, a method of working you can't do in other paint mediums.  His face changed a lot during those years and I came back to this canvas regularly. When I started to work on it again in 2017, I realised that the painting was ageing with him and I was still failing to catch his personality.

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At some point, the picture lost it’s direct connection to my friend and started to become something of its own. Once I got angry at it and scratched the layers of paint with a palette knife. Part of a background paint got at the middle of his face, I stopped and looked at it.  The crack that had appeared gave the picture new meanings. This bifurcated face seemed more interesting to me and I added more black colour, cutting it in two halves. 

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I did fail to paint my friend, but without painting him I wouldn’t get this final picture, which tells a lot more about those seven years then that simple life-like portrait could.

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On the right bottom corner of the second picture, you can see one of the intermediate version of this work, made at one of my old rented rooms.

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Oil on board 50 x 35 cm ( 19.6 x 13 in).

Available for €350 ($400). Print is €30 ($35).