Portraits of the Soul

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What beliefs or ideas are close to your heart? Have you ever had a transcendent experience that lingers with you? What is something that defines you?

Through a deep conversation and a collaborative effort, Vadim attempts to extract something from the depths of your mind and represent it on a canvas - in an image. This will not be a portrait of your face, but of your mind and soul.

Something that might be more representative of who you really are.

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What follows are the Portraits of the Soul that Vadim has created for people. Each is accompanied by a written reflection, put together collaboratively with the person whose Portrait has been painted. Specific details are not disclosed as Vadim adheres to a policy of confidentiality with clients.

As you will observe, they are all very different. Neither Vadim nor the person know what the image will look like when they begin, the conversation reveals the artwork.

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Contact Vadim to Inquire about commissioning a Portrait of the Soul.

Dissolve

Coming and going – the tides never cease. There is but one stable law of life; that all things will change. Chaos will come and chaos will leave. It seems that the poison is mixed with its antidote. Even the heaviest of times will float off like the breeze.

As we respond to this law, our character is sculpted. And as we walk our paths together it soon becomes clear, that just as everything else in life, we too will

Dissolve.

Interwoven

Look up one day, as the sun shines through the leaves of a tree, and see - illuminated - the intricate fractal networks of its vessels. Look up one night, and see those distant specks, each an enormous self-perpetuating explosion, tracing its path around a blackhole.

Within these elegantly weaved infinities, truth lies waiting to be unraveled.

Look inside, and witness a fluttering cascade of emotions, remnants of past interactions, fleeting vibrations throughout the body. We too are a part of this endless continuum, and we too are not separate from its truths.

Leaves emerging and breaking apart, stars collapsing and birthing elements for novel creations, the human mind forming ideas, and the body growing, then decaying.

We are not separate, no, we are … Interwoven.

Emerge

Light cannot exist without darkness and life cannot exist without death - these are inseparable. But in periods of loss, the blackness can seem impossibly thick, and infinitely deep. As if it is the only element of this absurd existence. But no matter how deep the abyss, or how powerful the storm, the other side of the coin will show itself eventually.

We must know that one day, through the darkness, we will … Emerge.

Unidentified

Who are you? And what parts of you are truly yours? The forces that construct your psyche are multifaceted and complex. They arise from your genetics, your childhood, your relationships, your beliefs and your culture. For some, this is straightforward, they seem to fit the mould that they are given with little resistance. This is either due to truly fitting in … or simply being unaware of the frameworks surrounding them. Others don’t. Something is in conflict and it results in a feeling of imbalance or absurdity, a lostness or sense of isolation. There are many ways to reconcile this misalignment and there are many causes of the problem. Is there something wrong with the culture? Is there something wrong with my beliefs? Is there something wrong with me? No question has a straightforward answer, and in many cases the answers are intertwined and interconnected.

But one thing can be clear. It is that there are aspects of our culture that attempt to draw strict boundaries and boxes for the sake of simplicity, but in reality, these parts of life are more complex and nuanced than simply saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’ … ‘left’ or ‘right’ … ’he’ or ‘she’. Those who do not feel that they fit inside a category can feel alienated and hated. But perhaps they are right, maybe they don’t belong in a box. In conforming to rigid social constructions, perhaps it is us who are wearing the masks, and the non-conformists are displaying their true faces.

Calm within the Storm

‘Calm before the Storm’ is a common saying. But, often there is calm within the storm. The wrathful fury of the ocean has few rivals. And yet, humans willingly go out and wrestle it. They do not aim to beat the ocean into submission - this is not possible - rather, they aim to find flow within its chaos. They do not fight the currents, they ride them and in doing so, open a door towards absolute calm among this unbelievable ferocity. And this ... is surfing.

Untitled

Life begins with a seed, an egg, a mote of pollen. Holding the potential to become something incredible, something unique. Given the right soil, the right temperature, the right light, a seed may become an immense tree. Every tree is an expression of its own uniqueness. But without the correct conditions, little more than a sprout may emerge before it is swept away by entropy.

Among the boundless possible paths, you, you walk this one. I walk my one. We are individuals, and the process of our lives is to become unique; to fulfil our potentials. We share the common condition of being different. The universal law, is that there is no universal law for each person. You must find your own way. But as we find the way, we may realise that we are all flowing down the same stream, towards the same end.

Portraits of the Soul

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