Sergey Smirnov’s subjects look out from the picture plane with serene and liquid eyes. Their features are delicate, pale, and fine. They seem pensive, or perhaps they simply remain aloof from the comings and goings of the world around them. In every case, their eyes dominate the canvas of their face. If, indeed, the eyes are the windows to the soul, then the souls Smirnov reveals are deep and profound, and in their simplicity, reminiscent of the haunting and beautiful images found in old Russian church iconography. There is something of the saints in Smirnov’s art, something of the world and its joys and sorrows is in his eloquent and mute figures. To know the steps he has taken on his journey as an artist is to understand the evolution of his sentiment and style.
Joys and sorrows in eloquent, mute figures painted by Sergey Smirnov
