The Russian 2020

Timur Akhriev’s painting, The Russian, seems to have been built up with layers of ochre, orange, and burnt umber oil paint. I imagine Akhriev in the studio, loading his brush, stepping back, and then diving in again with a flurry of marks. I sympathize with Akhriev in his attempt to capture both the weight of the chandelier and the ethereal feeling of the light as it hits the female face. There's a dialogue happening between the loose brushwork and the heavy, textured surfaces. I can almost feel the push and pull of the brush as he tried to resolve this. Look at the brushstrokes around the chandelier. See how they seem to swirl and dance, almost dissolving into the background? It reminds me a little of Gerhard Richter’s blurred paintings, where forms emerge and recede from the fog. Painters like Richter, and now Akhriev, teach us how to see in new ways, suggesting the magic that can happen when artists borrow, steal, and riff off one another’s ideas.