“Working on commissioned portraits in the classical style, I notice that people are more drawn to brighter, unnaturally colored portraits. During the 3 years of the pandemic, people are bored with the monotonous daily routine and want to see something unusual, fabulously colorful in their home, even their own portraits. And I give them a `dose of opium`, a `portal to an illusory world`.
It starts with a photo session. From there I select a suitable photo. And then…. I add a little digital ‘magic’. I look at the picture as though through a glass prism. I wrap my model in transparent layers of color and light. Sometimes in violet green, sometimes in pastel pink. Or in neon magenta with dark blue. Without changing her appearance, the sitter then finds herself in another colorful illusory dimension, far from reality. After this transformation, there is no longer an ordinary model, but an “Alice in Wonderland”, a mysterious prince or a proud queen…. Isn’t that what we all long for? To be another, or to show our unknown side, our real ‘ME’, which is usually hidden behind the layers of the gray everyday reality? Let there be light and color!”