Grandiosity

Darya Dolgareva was the Grand Prize Winner in International Artist magazine’s Challenge No. 128, Favorite Subjects.

“People are born twice: when they draw their first breath and then when they find their vocation,” says artist Darya Dolgareva, who resides in Saint Petersburg, Russia. “My second birth happened when I found my father’s drawings. There was no internet back then, so my acquaintance with art started with my father’s album and books from our family library. I grew fond of spending mornings over historical memoirs, which I had taken to since childhood. At the same time I became keen on making clothes for my dolls instead of just playing with them. As far as I can remember, I have always had a desire to create.”The Girl in the Old Dutch Frame, oil on canvas, 25½ x 21½"

Isabelle, oil on canvas, 46 x 33½"

Inspired by the Dutch masters, Dolgareva creates realistic portrait art, often featuring subjects adorned in elements of historic garb. A blending of old and new, she incorporates classical techniques into the world of contemporary culture and design, modern faces and figures. In The Girl in the Old Dutch Frame, a young woman—Dolgareva—is awash in shades of deep rouge and luminescent pearls, gazing directly at the viewer. “I wanted to reconcile the paradoxical differences of the two centuries and create my own version of this look by painting a self-portrait,” the artist says of the piece. In her Self-Portrait, 2021, she was inspired by old Japanese graphic art. Tempting the virtuous, oil on wood, 25 x 19½"

Self-portrait, 2021, oil on wood, 23½ x 19½"

“I am attracted by beauty, and beauty for me presupposes the presence of something strange, extraordinary. When I paint a portrait, I do not copy the external features, I interpret the character, underlining their twists. Instead of making an exact copy I look for idiosyncratic features and dramatize them. I am an interpreter, not a copyist. My portraits carry an imprint of individuality, but it is nature that I address when I seek truthfulness.”Self-portrait in a wide hat, oil on wood, 15 x 19½"She continues, “I would like to paint a person whose blood is pumping and muscles are moving under the skin. I do not strive for photographic similarity; it is life I’m interested in. I follow nature, but let loose my imagination. Every object in the painting performs a certain function, be it aesthetic or conceptual, without breaking basic laws of nature. Rigid requirements do not rule out a creative approach to nature transformation though. On the contrary, they contribute to intensifying the character’s expression, produced by imagination but rooted in reality.”Portrait of a Doll, oil on wood, 51½ x 36 ½"Today, the artist creates not only portraiture, but also larger scale projects. These projects are a collection of different experiences, united in the form of a painting, Dolgareva explains. “What makes me really happy is the possibility to engage in my favorite occupation, while the highest reward is the satisfaction with the end result.” —