All of my life I have been fascinated with the “The Human Heart” – its inner workings, broad vistas, its mysteries, and drama. As humans, we are constant battlefields. Each day we are pulled in different directions by the many voices that reside in our head, our heart, our heaven, and the underworld, and the voices of our ancestors and voices from childhood. We are actors on a stage of our own life, soldiers on all sides of our inner war, and seducers and the seduced. We live in a turning sphere restricted by time, filled with fire and surrounded by water. In the midst of our own contradictions we attempt to make sense of our lives. Each day we try to decide which way to turn at yet another intersection. And this almost alchemical moment of creating one’s fate is the one that I depict as an artist.

In my paintings I often use close-ups of my subjects; nothing in this physical world is close enough for me. I use symbols because they are the most direct language that speaks to our soul. I use strong colors for emphasis and to give the right “sound” to the intensity of what I want to convey.

My painting vocabulary consists of:

Red, my primary color. It is the color of passion, flesh and blood, and the clay from which Adam was sculpted. It also represents earth, demonic forces, sacred rage, and love.

Black, the canvas in which our world was created, which I often use as a background. It is the silence of the universe just before all things came into existence. It is color of promise and unseen power.

Blue, the color of heaven and cool breezes of the celestial presence. It is the color of resolution and mercy, harmony and hope.

White, the color of purity and forgiveness. It is the color of childhood and protection.

Gold, the color of divinity and our innermost sacred feelings. It is color of conversations with God.

​

The world is constantly shifting through its own processes, changing perceptions and history, changing its “set and costume designs.” Politics produces breathtaking special effects to accompany the spectacle of its chess game; technical progress promises us eternal life and seduces us with the new apples.

Through the centuries only one thing remains unchanged: the nature of our heart – with its fears and victories, the ability to experience both beauty and evil, and a primal instinct to create a “home” and love our children. I can endlessly look at it . It is what moves my brush.

​

​

The paintings of award-winning artist Anastasia Rurikov-Simes have been featured in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries, including Art-Monaco, Grimaldi Forum in Monaco; Asia Contemporary in Hong Kong; the Museum of Contemporary Art, the International Visions Gallery, the Alla Rogers Gallery, and the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Washington DC; the Zalman Gallery in New York; the Rybinsk Art Museum in Rybinsk, Russia, the Tula Art Museum in Tula, Russia, Dom Nashchiokina and ART-MANEZH in Moscow.   Her work is in public and private collections, including those of the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and the Center for the National Interest in Washington DC. 

​