By the Edge 2017

Editor: This is “By the Edge,” an oil painting from 2017 by Gennady Mironov. It has a surreal feeling to me. What really strikes me is how the landscape seems to be almost swallowing up the trees, like nature reclaiming something. What do you see in this piece? Curator: The "edge" speaks volumes, doesn’t it? It hints at thresholds, boundaries between the known and unknown. The artist's hyperrealism, bordering on the uncanny, draws our attention to the symbols inherent in nature. Editor: Uncanny, yes! Could you elaborate on the symbols? Curator: Notice the dominance of green, the colour of growth, life, but here it almost feels… overwhelming. Is this nature’s generosity, or a warning of its potential power? Editor: I hadn’t thought of it as potentially overwhelming. It felt more like… acceptance, maybe? Curator: Perhaps, but even acceptance has its shadowy side. Consider the "edge" itself – is it a precipice of opportunity or a point of no return? Artists often embed such potent dichotomies. What cultural associations spring to mind for you? Editor: It reminds me of Romantic landscape painting, but much more claustrophobic. Less sublime, more…secretive. Curator: Precisely. And that secrecy evokes other symbols, doesn’t it? The unseen, the hidden, the potential lurking just beyond our view. Think about fairytales; forests are rarely just forests, are they? Editor: No, they're always transformative spaces. So, Mironov is maybe tapping into that collective understanding? Curator: I believe so. It’s about recognizing those primal images and cultural narratives encoded within us. It leaves you contemplating the duality within a seemingly tranquil scene. Editor: I see it so differently now. The painting feels heavier, more complex. Curator: It's fascinating how an image can shift when you begin to see it as a collection of resonant symbols, a gateway to shared cultural memory.