Ivan Alifan
Ivan Alifan is a Russian artist who was born in Moscow and is currently living in Canada. He is the son of a famous Russian painter; Anna Razumovskaya. He attended the OCAD University in Toronto, Canada. Ivan participated in the Los Angeles International art fair, and had his work shown alongside Malcolm Liepke and Jeremy Lipking. He usually uses charcoal for his drawings and oil paints for his paintings.
His paintings are quite modern in style however there are old and symbolical objects in them. Like the bed and curtains with patters that are similar to the one in Elizabethan era. The reason for that may be because as he got older he started to miss and value the nostalgic memories of his childhood in Russia so he’s intensions are to include them in his paintings. In most of his paintings there are flowers in the composition. I have also noticed that the flowers are usually in the paintings where there is a woman as the main figure of the painting. This might be because in Russia flowers are often related to women or girls. They believe that the way you treat flowers is how you should treat women. Flowers are a symbol of life and beauty and just like women they are very delicate and fragile. I think that the main reason why Ivan Alifan uses flowers in his paintings to represent the personality of the girls in his compositions. Another think that I have noticed in two of his paintings (Modern Dorathy and Pandora) the girls are holding wicker basket which is another item that is symbolic to Russia.
He’s paintings are brushy because he leaves some rough brush strokes visible and energetic because he creates a positive mood in his paintings. However the soft strokes and colors on the figure are adding to the enchanting atmosphere. Ivan Alifan balances warm and cool colours to create muted light quality. This also makes his paintings look mysterious and gloomy.
The fogal point in his paintings is the figure because the emphasis there is greatest. The background of his paintings is usually simple with fewer details and rough brush strokes which make the figure stand out. Brown, green, orange and yellow combine in an impressionist technique. Some of the backgrounds are not even finished which also gives the painting a mystical atmosphere. The figures in his paintings are usually shown in an unusual view point for example standing on a tree, looking upward laying on a bed with her arms crossed or in his painting Eclipse we can only see a little bit of the face of the girl because she is turned sideways but her face is facing backwards. This may be because she is shy and she is trying to hide her face. This contributes to the fact that the girls in his paintings are always very feminine - long eye lashes, long hair, wearing dresses. This is also expressed by the colours he uses because they are very delicate and mellow.
Ivan Alifan’s paintings link to my own work because the technique that he uses is similar to my one as he makes the objects look very realistic. I also like the colours that he uses to create the positive atmosphere and the way he uses rough brush strokes and less details and he leaves the background unfinished on purpose to add a sense of mystery to his paintings. His use of flowers also links to my theme and idea behind my work.