Description
Expansive large oil painting on canvas by Russian born artist Nadia Kisseleva who partially resides on the east coast of Africa and is inspired by the vast Indian Ocean on her doorstep and the iconic dhows which still sail its shores.
Of these seascapes she says:-
“The first time I saw the Indian Ocean I was overwhelmed by its colours, power and ever-changing mood. It was back in 1982 when I first discovered Diani Beach. Since then I return there, whether in reality or in my imagination. Diani and its ocean shoreline has become a special place for me, untouched by commercial development, and a natural paradise for monkeys and fishermen hunting with spears. The colour of the ocean and its virgin white beaches make life seem so much brighter and more beautiful. Life moves at a slow pace and offers relief from worry and trouble. The delightful interaction with local people & community life is always enjoyable and is an energising experience.
My early paintings depicted palm trees, tides and lonely figures on the sand. Yet, I felt that these images were lacking the essence of how I felt for the sea. So strong was my need to be by the ocean, or, to be precise, to be with the ocean, that a few years ago we got a house on the beach. Since then, living there has helped to clarify my feelings and my thoughts. The moment I step into the ocean it feel as if I stop existing in a physical form and became part of the water. It feels as if my body dissolves into the warm moving substance around me and become weightless. I call it ’a return to a primeval state’ and often imagine myself as a small and inconsequential grain of sand. The world slips away and all worries or uncertainties are gone.
In these two paintings, I examine these feelings. In ‘Eternal’ I express the feeling of been overwhelmed by the presence of power, vastness and timeliness of the ocean. ‘The Sail’ focuses on the relationship of man and nature and how trivial and humble human beings can be in the face of nature and its power. I painted both in my open-air studio in Diani, by the beach, where a lot of local insects landed in the wet paint. These little bugs become part of the paintings and their making”.