Gretsky’s oil paintings of 7-meter-tall schoolchildren wear serious looks, less reminiscent of the Terracotta Warriors than the little killers from “Children of the Corn.”
Gallery of Portraits. Youngsters unveils a powerful projection of images that everyone carries inside. Through manifold enlargement of Forms, the Artist managed to create significantly realistic and truthful images of his models on canvas.
This projection remains real as long as the viewer recognizes in it his or her own reflection, and as long both mutual trust and mutual interest between the viewer and these schoolkids last, and as long as they stay similar, but not equal to their audience.
These images exist in direct proportion to the amount of personal experience and knowledge that the viewer is inclined to bring into play, as if they tend to approach an ideal personality created by one’s own imagination.
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Dmitry Gretsky and Evgeniya Kats. From the “Terracotta Worriers” series. 2011. Oil on canvas. Courtesy Marina Gisich Gallery
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