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Liudmila Kondakova - Autumn on the Seine
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"Paris is the city where reality and fiction have always met as if in the suspended universe of fantasy."
Although much ado is made about Paris in the springtime, each season has its ardent fans. Some say that no other time of year can rival the fall, when the city basks in a mellow, translucent light. Delightfully, the fall, as much as the spring, is a time of rebirth and expectation.
In her admiration of Paris, Liudmila Kondakova has no preference for seasons but finds inspiration all year through. In "Autumn on the Seine," the leaves turn from verdant to golden, enhancing the already glowing city with their natural beauty. This artist who has set up shop on the sidewalk (it is Liudmila's alter ego.) has stepped away from the easel for a moment, perhaps to get another perspective of the river and magnificent Cathedral of Notre Dame, or perhaps to chat with a passerby. This finished paintings, casually yet hopefully displayed for purchase, depict some of the other great monuments of the City of Light – the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame as seen from the front entrance, the cathedral of Sacre-Coeur in Montmartre, the beloved and iconic sidewalk shops and cafes, and more.
In this image, these artworks that the sidewalk artist has finished and displayed are almost like miniatures. As part of her training, painting religious icons with the monks of St. Alexis Cathedral in Moscow, Kondakova learns to create miniature religious paintings on eggs, a technique which manifests itself in her full size works as an incredible attention to detail. Kondakova also often incorporates favorite images, which make frequent appearances in her artwork. In this case, the bicycle–somewhat vintage in appearance and romantic in nature. To imagine this artist pedaling homeward while somehow juggling her paintings, easel, and traffic is somehow more...Parisian, don't you think. It's all part of Kondakova's memories of Autumn on the Seine.
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