Ksenya Istomina

Watching her Sketchbook -21st century interior and portrait painting of a girl

2023

Ksenya Istomina, a born painter. “From my second year,” says Ksenya Istomina, “my mother gave me a new sketchbook every day, I always drew such a sketchbook full and then another empty notebook was ready. In kindergarten I drew whole stories together with my girlfriend that we made up together. Now this girlfriend is my favorite model and you can see her in several of my paintings. At primary school, my parents were advised to let me go to art school. I started doing that at the age of 10 and I graduated from the Imperial Academy of Arts at the age of 27”. Studying at this famous Academy has brought a lot to the now 29-year-old Istomina, she sees not only the lessons but also the cooperation with her fellow students and teachers as special and valuable. An academic study where everything is drawn and painted completely 'from life'. The building itself also has a long history in the art world. Not everything has been restored and partly because of this, that history is clearly visible in a fascinating way. Her fascination for this environment can also be seen in some of the paintings Ksenya Istomina made for her solo exhibition at Galerie Bonnard. Your own style Studying at the academy meant hard work. For six years, the young artist usually painted and drew 7 days a week, 7-12 hours a day. This has resulted in enormous experience, knowledge and mastery of the craft. With her soft, dreamy personality she puts her own character into the work. This own style did not come to her mind. Developing your own style was not easy. During the hours of drawing and painting sessions and the intensive collaboration and work discussions with her fellow students, the hours of copying the old masters in the museums in various styles, she discovered her style and found the subjects that appeal to her. There is not a single style of a particular artist that is preferred by the artist. That she has an enormous knowledge of the history of art is apparent from the series of names she mentions when we ask her this question. Some of the names she mentions are: Johannes Vermeer, Claude Monet, Jules Bastien Lepage, John Everett Millet, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Levitan, John Singer Sargent, George Clausen, Henri Fantin-Latour and Arkhip Kuindzhi. Studying and discussing with others what she likes and would like to show in her work is not over after her academic period. One of her fellow students became her partner and she discusses what she is going to paint with him, they view and judge each other's work and are each other's main critics. Istomina says that this support ensures that they both constantly learn quality and creativity.