People Children 2022

Curator: What strikes me immediately about this piece is its stark division and intricate linework. Editor: Indeed. What we have here is Danil Nemirovsky’s "People Children," created in 2022. The medium is pen and ink. Curator: The clear delineation down the center into what looks like two separate worlds creates a striking contrast, doesn’t it? On one side, we see a Madonna-like figure holding a child amid what looks like the rubble of a conflict zone, or at least some domestic disarray. And on the other, a trio of figures in military garb. Editor: It's powerful commentary, especially given the materiality of the work. Nemirovsky chose simple pen and ink. It democratizes the image itself. The piece eschews the grandeur and privilege often associated with painting. Anyone can theoretically pick up a pen and attempt to recreate this reality. But it goes beyond mere creation; it's about documentation. Curator: Absolutely. The choice to use portraiture to illustrate social and political commentary creates a dialogue with earlier artistic traditions, like history painting, but on an individual scale, with current conflict very much in mind. And by rendering them in monochrome, and through very clear dividing lines, it adds to the severity, to the clear contrasts he seeks to draw. Editor: Thinking about institutions, where does a piece like this fit? Is it folk art, considering its direct engagement with conflict, or does its method claim high art status? Are these artificial distinctions in this instance? What social function does the artwork play outside traditional art venues given the imagery chosen, and considering that war-affected materials were used in the labor and production involved? Curator: Those are critical questions that exhibitions featuring artwork like Nemirovsky's need to raise and confront head-on. And personally, I will remember it for these stark lines, these divides. Editor: For me, it's the interplay between traditional portraiture and this brutal contemporary setting, it stays with me.