Russian artist reimagines Far North cities as cozy dreams (PICS)
It’s a polar night, -30°C and fresh snow crunches under your feet – you are going home, where it’s warm and windows radiate a light pink. Anna Uryupina’s paintings tell cozy stories about the cold cities of Russia’s Far North.
“Every time I begin creating a new painting, I feel like I’m sitting on the swing again in the neighboring yard. Other children play around me, someone is snacking on sunflower seeds. Twilight comes and it’s time to go home,” Anna Uryupina says.
The young artist creates paintings of the outskirts of Russian cities: Murmansk, Novosibirsk, Surgut and Tyumen.
“Such yards captured especially warm moments in my life. Nearby, there were always panel apartment blocks of various colors and each with its own story. There, I saw friendship, had heart-to-heart conversations, made plans, lived through school problems. There, my life was in full swing and I remember it with excitement and with tremendous gratitude. This is my home. I respect it,” she says.
Anna dedicates the majority of her paintings to Norilsk and Dudinka, two cities in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Anna was born in Dudinka and, although she moved to the southern city of Taganrog back in her childhood, her heart stayed in the Far North.
She creates winter urban landscape paintings with the help of her own memories, her mother’s tales and with the help of photos sent to her by her followers online. Many places depicted in her paintings have real addresses.
1. ‘Joy run across roofs’, Dudinka, Matrosova Street, 1
“The feeling of longing for the city woke up in me, the one I never realized, because of my young age. I can call it magic or greetings from the subconscious.”
Anna explains that she never ran across roofs, because she was cautious, but her male friends simply loved doing that. “They just hoped their moms wouldn’t find out!”
2. ‘With mom’
Anna lived in a similar panel house; here, she painted her way home.
“Everything is just as I remember it from my childhood. This giant street lamp, dark balconies, strange cables and a light on the door leading to the stairwell. There, behind this door, a delicious dinner and a nighttime fairy tale are waiting for me. The ray of the street lamp in my eyes has always been a searchlight, where you can see moths in summer. And white dancing snowflakes in winter.”
3. ‘In the yard’, Norilsk, Leningradskaya Street, 10a
It was fun to play in the yard during childhood among giant snow hills, especially when the sun peeked out. Remember the feeling?
4. ‘On Shkolnaya Street, 19’, Norilsk, Kayerkan
The urban views of Kayerkan, a far-off district of Norilsk, with its giant numbers on panel apartment blocks.
5. ‘Waiting for you…’, Dudinka, Gorky Street, 63
“A childhood photo of me was taken right next to this place, I wanted to get to know it! I really miss my native city! I miss it like a service dog misses its owner. Like the sun misses the sea and like snow misses mittens,” Anna writes.
6. ‘To reach home’, Norilsk
This painting was made by Anna according to the stories of her mother, who recalled how her brother was once going home from school during a ragng blizzard. “Cold, fatigue, your shoes are creaking, your face is fully covered by a scarf, only your eyes look out. You struggle through snow and you reach the warm stairwell. There, in your apartment, your mom is waiting for you with a hot meal. You take off your soggy mittens, pants and coat; your legs are covered with a pleasant feeling of pins and needles and it seems like these thin needles warm up your entire body!”
7. ‘Come on, roll it out!’, Norilsk
Here’s another winter game of kids from the Far North.
“A native of Norilsk shared with me an old game he used to play with his friends – riding big, wooden bobbins. An image sparked up in my head, which I brought into reality almost immediately,” Anna says. “This painting gives me the feeling of being carefree, of laughter, loud shouts and the feeling of being at home!”
8. ‘Love in Dudinka’, 40th Victory Anniversary Street, 5
“It’s not just about the love between two people, but also between two houses, between me and this wonderful northern city; it’s about the love between the snow and the whole composition,” Anna says. The painting seems alive – just look at the texture of concrete!
9. ‘Gray days’, Norilsk
A painting that breaths blizzard and the wish to quickly come home. “Imagine: the weather has suddenly worsened and your mom meets you after school. You walk the street, shielding your face from the fine snow with your arm and stop in a grocery store on the way, where your mom buys you a treat from that new ad on the TV!”
10. ‘A street, a street lamp, Norilsk’
“You stand in a familiar place, under a familiar street lamp; you look at the windows and wait for the familiar silhouette. Snow’s falling, but your thoughts are about everything but snow. You’re in the entourage of the snow waltz, the night silence and loneliness, which only a single glance from her through the window can ease.”
