Martin Lawrence Galleries

During her training at the icon painting workshop in St. Alexis Cathedral in Moscow, Liudmila Kondakova was taught that beauty is in the details, and detail is almighty. As part of this education, she learned the different exercises that helped form the basis of her excellent technical skill. There she practiced techniques such as developing a very straight line with a very fine brush. While learning how to develop a very straight line with a very fine brush, you are taught a special breathing technique, to help you stabilize the brush stroke. These instructions, combined with the spiritual guidance of the monks, instilled in the young artist a sense that art is sacred, and the act of painting is an extension of the contemplative life. She starts painting from the farthest background area and then moves forward throughout the piece. From the darkest parts of the painting to the lightest, as if she is bringing her composition from darkness to light.

“28 Boulangerie”, is a stunning example of the kind of detail and clarity for which Kondakova is widely known for. Her beloved city of Paris once again becomes the subject matter, but instead of a grand and sweeping vista of a skyline or famous monument, she shows us the everyday beauty to be found in a single shop. The vivid colors and incredible detail made possible by the intimate scale of the painting bring the little bakery shop to life with almost three-dimensional clarity. Every detail, from the finely-lettered advertisements to the reflection in the window of the shops across the street, is carefully detailed. The gritty realism of the graffiti on the pockmarked walls, in contrast with a more romantic image such as that beloved icon of French life, the baguette, combine to illustrate the city Kondakova loves; not perfect, but vibrant and alive. “28 Boulangerie” is a hand-signed serigraph on paper, created in 2001, and the image size is 12 x 2- inch.