By the Edge 2017

Curator: Gennady Mironov's "By the Edge," painted in 2017 using oil paint in a plein-air style. Immediately I’m struck by its eerie quietness. It's like a still from a fairytale that turned unsettling. What’s your take? Editor: The subdued palette really leans into that fairytale vibe, doesn’t it? It's more Brothers Grimm than Disney, though. I can't help but read that creeping, moss-laden foreground as an encroachment, a visual metaphor for environmental precarity perhaps? Curator: Oh, I like that reading! The landscape feels very much alive, almost breathing, though. It’s like it has claimed all that space as its own. Even those trees look… I don't know, like they have their own opinions. Do you notice the heavy impasto work here, the density of the paint on the trunk and base of those magnificent trees. Editor: Absolutely. Mironov's use of impasto lends the surface a tangible, almost sculptural quality. The rocks, trees, the whole scene seem to materialize from the canvas. But what I find interesting is the composition itself—the low horizon line, the dominance of this mossy foreground. There's something very… intentional about who is included and excluded from this space. It speaks to ideas of borders and territories, not only literally within the scene, but the human impact as well. Curator: Borders. Interesting! Yes, it makes me think of the invisible lines we draw everywhere. There's this almost palpable mist—perhaps that's a barrier? Are we welcome here, do you think? Editor: The mist definitely functions as a visual and psychological barrier. It creates a sense of ambiguity—what lies beyond? And that is a useful rhetorical trope for creating tension when thinking about safety, inclusion, exclusion… and our impact on an increasingly unstable climate. It invites us to question our relationship with these seemingly “natural” spaces. Curator: I think it definitely worked on me. When I consider how fast certain trees have been disappearing in my lifetime, and how often I think, "someone should protect that", this feels like a potent little cry. So it definitely made an impact. Thank you for bringing that perspective to the painting! Editor: And thank you for opening my eyes to its technical beauty and subtle narrative. Mironov's "By the Edge" definitely holds a mirror up to our own place within, and potential displacement from, the natural world.