Sea of Marmara 2019

Andrey Remnev painted this piece, ‘Sea of Marmara’, and you can see how he’s built up the surface, layer by layer. It’s like he’s creating a world right there on the canvas, a world of symmetry and strange symbolism. I can imagine him working on this in the studio, carefully choosing each color, each brushstroke. The woman with her pearl necklace, the marbled texture in the backdrop and the crabs circling the image create a formal pattern. What’s she thinking? What’s he thinking as he paints her? It's as if he's inviting us into a quiet, interior space, a space where the mind can wander and the imagination can take flight. It reminds me of the work of Balthus, that same sense of stillness, of mystery, of something just out of reach. And the crabs circling—they bring a sense of unease, a reminder that beauty and strangeness are often intertwined. Isn’t painting amazing, the way artists can bring their own visions and experiences, and invite us to reflect on the world with them.