Hello! My name is Irene Makarova, I was born in Moscow (Russia).
I live and work in London (UK) now.
I started painting as a child, but it was only after my graduating from the Institute that I started my adult path in painting and art. I began to discover my meanings and the possibility of expressing them through creativity. It was and it still is very important for me.
My paintings are figurative, I like to work with oil and open colours. Each colour appeals to its own emotions and has its internal sound.
I'm inspired by the artworks of the artists of the Russian avant-garde of the early twentieth century and some paintings of German expressionists. Also, I love Bosch, Giotto, El Greco, Modigliani.
For me, the important thing is the moment when a person looks at a painting and something begins to happen: a transformation that brings the person closer to his authenticity. It brings him to the very point where lying is simply impossible. This authenticity allows him to make his own choices, to see authentic things and to feel the truth. For me, genuine art is a direct and very precise entry into non-verbal space. It is a combination of depth and height.
Painting is my main medium. In my practice, I explore the theme of the eternal penetrating into modern reality. How this eternal is embodied through the objects and stories around me and through the human body.
My paintings are figurative. The form and relationships between various forms and figures set a huge field of interpretation through different historical and mythological contexts. The ideas of my paintings are born inside me through observation and experience of my surroundings. The subjects of my works often refer to myths and archetypes, expressed in the deep mythology of various countries and cultures, from antiquity to the present day. I reinterpret them in the language of contemporary painting and give them a poignant, contemporary voice. And in this sense I see the form as a kind of a trap for eternity. Captured in images, eternity becomes touchable.
I mainly use oil in my painting practice. Oil paintings have their own physiology to me; I feel like touching them and catching the very moment when the artist was working on them. I'm kind of snatching that moment from eternity. Smell, texture, tactile sensations - everything makes me stop and take my mind off the constant noise of everyday life and immerse myself in my own, utterly unique world.
For me, as an artist, it is essential to constantly draw near that level of my authenticity which allows me to express through myself eternal and timeless images that need to be given a contemporary sound and contemporary form. My work is a way of talking to people and to myself about important things that can get lost in the noise of everyday life. I am interested in the invisible (meaning, symbol) that hides behind the usual visible around us.
I studied painting at the Studio of the Russian artist Konstantin Kaufman. I graduated from Moscow Institute of Architecture (State Academy), and then I took the Art course in Moscow State Academic Art Institute named after Surikov.