The Spirit of Siberia

Spot magic by Damir Bozik in Khanty-Mansiysk:

"I wanted to name this work "Spirit of Siberia", although I'd never been to Siberia and hadn't really discovered it at that time. But when I drew a sketch for this work, everything was drawn by itself – I just thought about my associations with these places. Therefore they were a chum (a temporary dwelling used by the Khanty and Mansi), the sun, the forces of nature and a deer, of course.

The place for my painting was changed several times, so I didn't have a particular sketch. Besides, the weather forecast said that it would rain in two days, so I decided to create my work as soon as possible.

All it took a little bit longer than a day with a couple of breaks for dinner and sleep, a couple of hours for both. I painted day and night as lighting allowed me to do it. Approximately in the middle of the work I already didn't understand anything and apparently someone completed the picture instead of me. That's why I was able to see the result only the next day.

I really liked what we created, I had been thinking to paint something like this for a long time. I thank our nature, wonderful organizers, volunteers and artists of Stenograffia, the land of Khanty-Mansi and its people, as well as all my relatives and friends for this fairytale and kindness. Thank you for inspiration and support to implement this idea. I'm very happy for everything that happens! I hope that this painting will please everyone rain or shine. Peace!"
© Damir Bozik

Photographer Pavel Ivanov