Polina Kharlamova
Polina Kharlamova is a professional painter and illustrator currently living and working in Helsinki, Finland. Within her oeuvre, she continuously explores the new facets of femininity, nature and music. Each painted canvas aims to transcend a specific mood to the viewer through a thoughtful selection of the moments that touch upon such themes. Heightened by the use of a dramatic, predominantly dark colour palette, her pictures convey a sense of mystery, peace and tranquillity. Throughout her practice, Polina constantly thinks about the audience and their future interaction with her art – for her, it is crucial to immerse the onlooker in a unique viewing atmosphere.
Polina Kharlamova in her studio in Helsinki, 2023. Photo courtesy of the artist.
“ What I find important as an artist is to deliver a certain feeling to the viewer, the feeling that I experience myself when I look at someone else’s art. It happens, for example, when you look at the painting, and suddenly you freeze as you become enveloped in a specific atmosphere. ”
To learn more about Polina Kharlamova’s works, visit her personal website or her Instagram.
Polina began making her first pencil drawings while as a child studying at school. She recalls how she had always possessed the ability to sit quietly with her sketchbook for hours on end, constantly working on her artistry. In her teenage years, Polina was fortunate enough to receive drawing lessons from the artist Alexander (Sasha) von Hagemeister (1956 – 2015) for some time. What made an even more indelible impression on Polina than the lessons, however, was the artist’s studio which she was taught in. She remembers how inspirational it was working there, surrounded by paintings and antiques while listening to old vinyl records. It was this experience that encouraged her to pursue a career in the arts. Thus, in 2015, Polina enrolled in Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design, one of Russia’s most prestigious art universities, where she majored in academic drawing and costume design. After graduating from the Academy in 2019, she relocated to Finland and embarked on a career as an independent artist in Helsinki.
Bill Evans, 2018. Graphite and watercolour on paper, 80 x 57 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
Chet Baker, 2018. Graphite and watercolour on paper, 94 x 55 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
When looking at the works by Polina in chronological order, one would notice that she was initially drawn to sketching and drawing until recently, when her primary focus shifted to painting. Even more than this, one can trace the artist’s changing attitude towards the usage of colour in her art. Polina’s drawings are almost entirely monochromatic, which is visible, for instance, in her two major works on paper, Bill Evans (2018) and Chet Baker (2018). According to the artist, these works also marked the beginning of a new stage in her practice. Having produced predominantly large-scale, one-metre drawings up to this point, she realised that she wanted to add more colour to her work and no longer be restricted by the limited palette presented by pencil and paper.
Misty Peonies, 2021. Oil on canvas, 92 x 70 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
As Polina started producing more works on canvas, she found herself being inspired by fifteenth and sixteenth-century art. More specifically, the Early Netherlandish painting and those from the period of the Northern Renaissance resonated with her. The biggest interest for her was the deep, dark colours present in the religious paintings of that time.
Another source of inspiration for Polina is the depiction of human figures in these works, especially in those by Jan van Eyck and Hans Memling. She was particularly drawn to the sculptural appearance of their works, which she cites as appearing as if figures had frozen on canvas in their aesthetic poses. However, she also actively looks to local Finnish artists for inspiration and has developed a particular interest in landscape paintings by Akseli Gallen-Kallela.
Fragility, 2020. Oil on canvas, 70 x 80 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
Over the last few years, Polina has consolidated this vast visual experience, and her personal and educational background, into her creative practice to develop her own artistic style. One of the main characteristics of Polina’s work and, perhaps, what makes her paintings stand out, is her specific approach to colour in her art. Believing that colours could act as the carriers of feelings and evoke certain emotions, Polina employs a sophisticated, deep palette of emeralds, deep purples, browns and burgundies in most of her works. She refers to this choice as allowing her paintings to convey mystery, spirituality, calmness and harmony.
Polina’s most recent body of work focuses on an exploration of the female body, specifically relating to themes of identity that have been pulled from her own experiences. The women in her paintings seem somewhat detached and immersed in their private worlds – they do not tend to confront the viewer with either a direct look or an emotional facial expression. Instead of arousing strong emotions, they invite peace, asking viewers to listen to their inner voice and reconnect with nature.
Serenity, 2020. Oil on canvas, 70 x 80 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
Serenity (2020) features a silhouette of a young woman dressed in romantic lingerie lying in bed facing a rich turquoise wall. With her back to the viewer, her face and frontal body are hidden. One is left wondering if she is asleep. If so, is she dreaming and what about? Or is she wide awake, replaying thoughts presented by her inner consciousness? The intimacy of the moment is further highlighted by the addition of gypsophila flowers, which gracefully spread across the woman’s body as if she was a garden wall. Purity, sincerity, gentleness and sensitivity are also emphasised through symbolism presented by her white pearl necklace as well as the pink rose pattern of the vintage wallpaper. The coexistence of the tangible, natural representations of these qualities and the female figure in Serenity corresponds to Polina’s personal imaginings of femininity and feminine beauty.
Placidity, 2021. Oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
Orchid, 2023. Oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
The elements of nature – flowers and plants – are organically intertwined in other works in her oeuvre. In her nude series (2021 – 2023), monumental female figures are portrayed from different vantage points against a deep burgundy background covered with leaves. Although the figures appear to be very different, they share a common gesture – each holds a single orchid flower in their right hand to obscure their faces, and ultimately their identities. Concealing their emotions this way, the women in Placidity (2021) and Orchid (2023) convey an enigmatic essence to the onlooker. With their pale skin and sculptural appearance, they are reminiscent of the Biblical character of Eve yet are diverted from the original religious meaning and reconsidered in a modern period.
Cold Blue, 2021. Oil on canvas, 60 x 80 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
If one looks closely, one might notice how the painted women often bear similarities to the artist’s own appearance. This is evident in Cold Blue (2021), where one can easily recognise Polina’s features imbued in this picture’s subject.
The artist, however, does not directly associate herself with the female figures she paints and refuses to define her works as self-portraits. Polina explains that she would have depicted herself differently if she was to create a work of this genre. Rather, she simply uses herself as a model to help realise the painted vision in her imagination.
With this approach in mind, Cold Blue (2021) was originally imagined by Polina as a homage to portraits from the Italian Renaissance. She achieves this by borrowing typical compositional elements, such as the sitter’s profile view and the use of landscape elements to populate the picture’s background. For example, one work she has clearly looked at is The Duke and Duchess of Urbino (c.1473-1475) by Piero della Francesa, where these features are found. Echoing the portrayal of the Duchess, the figure of a young woman is painted in the foreground. Her face, unaffected by emotions, dominates the entire picture plane. A view of the snow-covered river is visible in the distance. Rather than copying it realistically, a murky hue covers the scene giving it the appearance of being seen through a window overlooking the surrounding landscape. The cold palette employed in the work in question enhances the sense of the imminent arrival of a frosty winter, which mirrors the climate of Finland.
Frozen River, 2021. Oil on canvas, 80 x 80 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
“ As an artist, I feel very dependent on the change of seasons. I would even say that my practice transforms with the changing seasons. In winter, I paint with colder, darker colours, whereas in summer, I tend to create lighter and more cheerful works. At the same time, I produce more work with the arrival of the cold season, when nothing ‘distracts’ me outside. From an artistic point of view, I also like winter’s colour palette more than summer’s. ”
A landscape evocative of the one featured in Cold Blue also appeared in another painting by Polina, Frozen River (2021), yet here the whole canvas is solely dedicated to this landscape. The natural features reflected in the work suggest that this depicts a Finland forest during the winter season. Her skill in detail is so unmatched that she has conveyed the serenity and tranquillity of the landscape, with only the snow crunching gently beneath one’s feet.
Jazz Gig, 2022. Acrylic on canvas, 95 x 95 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
In addition to nature, jazz occupies a significant place in Polina’s creative practice. She has been fascinated with this music genre since her teenage years, tracing back to her earlier drawings depicting famous jazz musicians and composers. In Jazz Gig (2022), Polina captured a moment of quietness between performances. This is clear since the bass player left his instrument on the floor and has gone backstage to prepare for the second act. It is interesting to note that the artist directly associated the colours featured in this painting with the sound of jazz. In a similar way to Wassily Kandinsky, who possessed an ability to hear colours – a form of synaesthesia - Polina visualises the colour palette in her mind when she listens to music. To her, the sound of jazz could be depicted through the application of brown, burgundy, and dark green. As a result of this, the painting exudes a smooth, harmonically complex visual syncopation that aligns with the improvisational jazz melodies the musician surely played during his first act. The manner in which the artist has recreated the bass instrument, surrounding plants, and the velvet curtains featured in the background further add to this sense of rhythm.
Red Space, 2023. Oil on canvas, 90 x 60 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
Polina’s paintings gently envelop the viewer with their atmosphere of feminine warmth, elegance and sensuality, allowing one to plunge into the aesthetics of the mystic past. Having successfully found her individual style and created a whole body of work during the Covid-19 pandemic, she is now looking forward to presenting her paintings to a more diverse public and establishing herself within the contemporary art scene in Finland and internationally.
Selected Exhibitions and Achievements:
2023
Publication of work (Boris Vian, graphite on paper, 84 x 60 cm, 2018), Wall Street Italia, May 2023 Issue, Editor's letter illustration, page 3 (available at: https://shop.wallstreetitalia.com/magazine/wsi-style-issue-2#slide1 )
Publication of work (Misty Peonies, oil on canvas, 92 x 70 cm, 2021), Wall Street Italia, March 2023 Issue, Editor's letter illustration, page 3 (available at: https://shop.wallstreetitalia.com/magazine/wsi-style-issue-1#slide1 )
2021 – present
Invited to showcase artwork at online art gallery SINGULART (for more information, visit the link: https://www.singulart.com/en/artist/polina-kharlamova-11891?ref=ts )
2020 – present
Established profile on Artfinder, art commissions online (for more information, visit the link: https://www.artfinder.com/artist/polina-kharlamova )
2019
Group exhibition, Degree show, Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design, St. Petersburg.
2018
Solo exhibition, Orchestra, “Ziferburg” cultural centre, St. Petersburg.
Solo exhibition, as part of the Leningradskiye Mosty (The Leningrad Bridges) festival, “Sevcable Port”, St. Petersburg.
Daria Ozerskaya
Contributing Writer, MADE IN BED