Sasha Sokolova
"Banksia" Oil Painting 27" x 39" inch by Sasha Sokolova
2020

About the Item

"Banksia" Oil Painting 27" x 39" inch by Sasha Sokolova Life Still "I produced this series in 2020 while mostly in lockdown due to the Coronavirus. I am used to working alone in my studio, so quarantine away from people has not greatly changed my lifestyle, and the isolation itself has not put me out of my comfort zone. I am an inveterate introvert, and I do not miss society. But what pains me the most is the impossibility of communicating with nature. Nature calms me, and helps me to be in harmony with myself. At the energic level, nature enhances human vibration. Trapped in 4 walls, especially in a big city, a person loses their roots. Literally. In recent months through my work, I have tried to restore this connection. Staying in the apartment, I turned to plants and specimens I had brought from other countries: eucalyptus, dried banksia, palm branches, etc. Without alternatives for models, it has made me turn to myself, to look inside myself, and I integrate these plants into the portraits to supplement what I feel I am missing. This is a very personal series about my warm attitude to nature at a time when we all crave it. I also drew inspiration from this quote from Magritte - "Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see." Bio Born in Moscow into a family of artists, Sasha Sokolova is an award winning contemporary realist painter, working across a range of traditional oil and water colour techniques. Her current works explore a variety of themes spanning the human figure and nature and feature many of the travel destinations from which she draws much of her inspiration. Following scholarships from the V. Spivakov fund and Young Talents Fund, Sasha graduated with honours from the Sergey Andriyaki School of Watercolour and Fine Arts in Moscow and went on to complete a Masters of Fine Arts at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. Sasha was selected as the only Russian artist to work on the Oscar nominated "Loving Vincent", the first fully painted feature film. Sasha exhibits regularly in Russia and throughout Europe. In 2021 Sasha’s painting “The Last Portrait” was awarded Honourable Mention in ModPortrait 2021 and will be exhibited with other finalists in Zaragoza and Barcelona. Her works are held in private collections around the world, including Australia, Canada, United States, Great Britain, throughout Europe and Russia. Sasha lives and works between Moscow and Barcelona. Artist Statement I was born into a creative family and knew from the start that I would become an artist. My grandfather was a professional painter trained in the classical Soviet system and he taught me drawing and painting from the time I could hold a brush. He was a strict teacher which at the time I didn’t like at all but I appreciate that now as the discipline was an important balance to my artistic nature. At the same time I was studying music so I was brought up to understand harmony and to love art. As well as studying the classical multilayer techniques of watercolour painting and drawing, I also did courses in miniature enamel painting, mural painting and etching. These painstaking activities taught me to love and to develop detail and that is still a feature of my work today, whether working in oil on a large canvas, or a simple sketch on a train. At university I specialised in costume design with an emphasis was on imagination and self-expression. This gave me a broader arts education, not only the academic discipline in painting and drawing techniques but also the practical application in cinema – from modelling and dress making to styling and participating in the whole production process. These days I mainly focus on traditional oil painting on canvas in the studio. I can see beauty everywhere even in simple things of everyday life that other people miss sometimes and I express them on my canvas in my own way. People are the biggest inspiration for me. I like the challenge of anatomy but more than that I try to bring out the personality and emotions of the person I paint. I try to paint people in a way so the viewer could see and feel their personal story and uniqueness. I like experimenting with styles by mixing realism and abstraction like in my recent Splash series or realism and minimalism like in Life Still. Other times I’m drawn to the details that takes a lot of time and concentration, and for me it is a sort of meditation. But really it doesn’t matter what I paint, a portrait or a street scene, I focus on bringing beauty and harmony with my art to people’s lives, and it gives me my motivation.

Creator:

Sasha Sokolova (Russian)

Creation Year:

2020

Dimensions:

Height: 27 in (68.58 cm)Width: 39 in (99.06 cm)

Medium:

Oil,Canvas

Movement & Style:

Realist

Period:

21st Century