Irina Drozd is one of the most sought-after contemporary Russian artists. Graduated from the Venezianov’s art school in Tver and The Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art, having also studied in the Berlin Art Institute.
“In my work I investigate the nature of good and evil in people, and it is one of my main objectives to attempt to trace and record the dividing line between the plus and the minus signs. In my art I often look to childhood as a special stage of human life, and to children as people who are capable of flexibility in their thought processes since they do not yet possess a clear-cut view of the world that surrounds them, who easily accept what is happening to them from the outside. In relation to this I create a collective image of an escapist person (an escapist child, even), who plays games as an intentional breakout from reality, juggling with meaning, roles, and statuses that are created around the binary terms such as good/evil, innocence/passion, quiet/loud, mind/matter, prey/predator, the desired/the real. The use of contrasting colours in my paintings is not accidental either: if the white canvas, untouched by paint, is the symbol of innocence, then red is then simultaneously the symbol of sacrifice and beauty”. Irina is the nominee for countless awards: the Sergey Kuryokhin Award, the Innovation Prize, as well as Saint Petersburg’s Top 50 famous people Award. From 2016 onwards she has been listed in the Russian art investment rating 49ART.
