PORTRAITS

SHALMIN’S PORTRAITS ARE NOT LITERAL DEPICTIONS OF SPECIFIC PEOPLE, BUT RATHER ILLUSTRATIONS OF ARCHETYPES AS WELL AS THE ARTIST’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSE TOWARDS THE ARCHETYPE ITSELF.

‘Emotions’, ‘temperament’, ‘feelings’ – all these are popular subjects of paintings that prevailed during the baroque era, often associated with portraits, but not connected to them directly. For example, depictions of a young man holding a glass in Dutch paintings of the 17th century are allegories of taste. In this way, through a specific symbol, the artists were attempting to convey emotions and sensations of a general order.

In this digital age and daily social media interaction full of avatars, the portrait genre has become increasingly more abstract and is more predisposed to anonymity and concealment, rather than the exposure of personality. In this way, Shalmin’s art sees the formation of a new genre of the ‘anonymous portrait’ with a plethora of collective, rather than individual emotions.

KIRILL SVETLIYAKOV,
ART EXPERT AND CRITIC, RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LATEST TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS AT THE TRETIYAKOV ART GALLERY, MOSCOW, RUSSIA

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