Canadian painting, contemporary artist Maxim Grunin

Make Me Dance, 40"X60" (diptych), acrylic on canvas (gallery wrap), 2009, Maxim Grunin

I am a formally trained artist, specializing in studio visual arts such as drawing and painting. What I do can be labeled as contemporary art practice. I am an immigrant from Russia, but I am not at all Russian. It's true that Russian is my first language and being brought up in the former Soviet Union makes me "culturally" Russian. I also have mixed Jewish and Ukrainian background, but I am foremost Canadian. My education and experience in the field of visual arts prohibit me from being ignorant or under-informed about cultural nature of my job. I am critical to every motion of my body and mind when it comes to painting. Classical, figurative and avant-garde influences as well as conceptual, art theoretic aspects are present in my work. "Make Me Dance" is responsive to my emotional state of a city dweller. I also let the methods of applying paint interact somewhat under-mediated in this piece. I construct the image with implied narrative and then disrupt it with abstract paint application. This results in an unexpected and pregnant visual surface.

Landscape painting in acrylics

It's So Nice Outside, 30"X30", acrylic on canvas (gallery wrap), 2009, Maxim Grunin

Landscape painting of a sunset at a nearby park

"Watching Sunset", 24"X30", acrylic on canvas (gallery wrap), 2009, Maxim Grunin

 

Head study, untitled by Maxim Grunin

Untitled, 30"X24", oil with acrylic under-painting (gallery wrap), 2009. This head study depicts a young woman with her mouth open and her tongue sticking out. Grotesque facial expression is accompanied by calm, studying gaze of the person in the painting. I was attracted to the ambiguity of the reference picture I've collected in order to produce this work. I wanted the immediacy of  the brush strokes to come forth in this study. Making the piece was a carefully calculated process based on my experience as a classically trained painter. Please visit my web store on eBay under Maxim Grunin.

Art on eBay - landscape painting by Maxim Grunin

"Sunny, smile", 30"X30", acrylic on canvas (gallery wrap), 2009. This landscape painting is inspired by my interaction with nearby parks and ravines. These places can be truly sublime when one is out walking for a breath of fresh air. Here I become absorbed in my experience of living  in the present moment. My senses and my intellect immersed in the state of being. My current body of work attempts to bring these bits of sublime scenes to the viewer. The paintings are also informative of the color, line, contrast, space and paint application. I use palette knifes to construct most elements of this work. Paint splatters and drips are added to represent foreground detail. I also resort to the use of brushes in order to create thin linear elements and translucent washes. My work is available for sale on eBay and priced commission free:

ebay art sale - new painting by Maxim Grunin MFA

"Trail By Ravine", 24"X30", acrylic on canvas (gallery wrap), 2009 - is a palette knife painting executed in black, brown, gray, gray-purple, orange-brown and bright white-yellow-orange colors. I like using subtle grades of these colors taken from observation of nature. A life-like impression of a landscape interests me more then a bold color statement in this piece. I often take walks in the area surrounding my studio. It is a suburb riddled with ravines, parks, farmland and city developments. Sometimes I find myself on a trail that makes me feel like I am traveling through a forest. I stop and enjoy the sensation. There is so much to look at - trees, branches, grass, sky, ground beneath my feet and light gleaming through tree leaves.

Maxim Grunin - Red Rose, a painting of a rose on eBay sale

"Red Rose", 30"X30", acrylic on canvas (gallery wrap), 2009. This square painting depicts a red rose over a dark black green background. Realistic flower, painted with dark red browns and red purples within the shadows and brighter reds, oranges and pinks in the mid tone and light areas, is leaning towards the left. The rose opens it's petals in a glamorous fashion symbolizing love and beauty. This painting by Maxim Grunin MFA is on sale at:

Figure and Collage 2012

    Female head and portrait study, 20"X20", acrylic on paper, 2012

    Untitled, study, acrylic and collage on paper, 2012

    Untitled, study, acrylic and collage on paper, 2012

    Material, 20"X18", acrylic on canvas, 2009

    Untitled, study, acrylic and collage on paper, 2012

    Suffering face, collage, 2012

    Untitled, study, acrylic and collage on paper, 2012

    Untitled, collage, 2012