Vitaliy Urzhumov’s lemon-themed paintings are a fascinating blend of surrealism and homage to the citrus fruit. His works are known for their vivid imagery and the way they transform the ordinary lemon into a subject of deep artistic exploration. Urzhumov’s approach is both naturalistic and imaginative, allowing him to delve into the nature of objects and their interactions through light and shadow.
His paintings are not just visually striking but also carry a sense of personal connection to the artist, as he likens his creative process to the act of understanding himself. The lemons in his paintings are more than just fruit; they are a symbol of vitality and a medium for Urzhumov to express his artistic vision.
Why lemons? They are sunny, pleasant to the touch and in the cut interesting, look like flowers. And also pleasantly smell: their aroma cleans up space, helps extremities, revive and plunge into their special coolness, gives a rush of forces, motivation for continuation of work, helps to concentrate. I think that in my last life I was an Arab perfumer, created “sun-lemon” perfume. In this life the perfumer did not become, but went on the way of the artist, leaving the lemons with him. On any object, it is necessary to look from different sides, with aroma I have already met, now this beautiful fruit is studied visually. Perhaps guessing his nature, I will understand myself more. Using the naturalistic approach and, accordingly, a brush of small sizes I plunge into the world which I draw to study it, to understand the nature of interaction of objects uniting forces of shadows and reflexes and, certainly, to understand lemons. I enjoy the fact that on the canvas I create realistic things that are not. It is magic, when stroke by stroke, an unusual world is shown on the plane of the canvas, the contemplation of which fills the body with vitamin C.
Vitaliy Urzhumov