Biography:

A kaleidoscope of colors and lines, the paintings of Igor Smirnov emanate a visual melodiousness. Drawing on the influences of geometry, psychology, and the fine arts, Smirnov creates joyful artworks that incite feelings of balance and pleasure through the power of optical harmony.

As the son of famous Russian landscape artist Vasili Smirnov, Igor Smirnov began creating at a young age, impacted by his artistic family roots. He attended the College of Fine Art in Russia, continuing on to earn a Master’s Degree in engineering and a PhD in clinical psychology. While on the surface these specialties might seem disparate, Smirnov united these academic interests in the visual, mathematical, and psychological through his development of a painting style called Symbolic Realism.

The scientific belief that certain hues and shapes can produce a therapeutic effect on a spectator informs Symbolic Realism. Any viewer of Smirnov’s work can sense viscerally the manner in which lines and color interact to produce a symbiotic push and pull between structure and freedom. Hue bends with Smirnov’s guiding linear structure while maintaining independence via its textured stroke; color moves unreservedly within the greater form and frame of, for example, a woman playing guitar (see Lady with Guitar) or bodies before Sakura trees (see Sakura Blossom). This dynamic give and take between careful composition and fluidity results in an overall sensation of equilibrium.

Although Smirnov’s painting ideology requires deliberateness, his mixing of mediums evidence a playful approach to his creations. As seen in a work like My Course is Set for an Uncharted Sea, pastel meets paint in a cheerful explosion of pigment and texture. Such variation in surface quality provokes visual vibrations that bounce the eye around the painting, encouraging every corner to be examined, yet never overwhelming the viewer with a random cacophony of visual stimuli.

Smirnov nevertheless champions diversity within his painting. In a work like Mystical Breeze, Smirnov not only combines mediums, he also unites solid color with intricate pattern and melds purely abstract forms with recognizable shapes and subjects. A violin sits nestled behind a vase and a bird flits out from behind a mask of the human face, all atop a background of meandering lines that cannot be described as either three-dimensional or flat. In this way, Smirnov offers a wholeness within which animals, human forms, and abstract shapes fuse to present a blended piece, without a sense of hierarchy. This lack of formal ranking reinforces the feeling of balance that Smirnov’s creations evoke. And yet within this equilibrium, the movement, brightness, and surprise that Smirnov’s paintings maintain are utterly unselfconsciousness in their boldness.

This very boldness earned Smirnov a spot in the underground, or non-conformist, art scene in the former Soviet Union during the 1980s. The non-conformist scene included anything that expanded beyond Socialist Realism, the official art style of the Soviet Union at the time, which consisted of idealized realistic forms. Significantly, in 1987, Smirnov’s unique body of work captivated the US Deputy Secretary of State, John Whitehead, eventually earning Smirnov the opportunity to immigrate to the United States.

Smirnov continued on to earn international recognition, exhibiting in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Russia. His monograph, Between the Moment and Eternity: Artwork of Igor Smirnov, was published in 2006.

Smirnov’s body of work presents to the public an opportunity for a collective sigh of relief. His paintings are bright and playful, joyous and affirming, balanced yet bold amidst the chaos of the world–whether that be the world of the Soviet Union during the 1980s or the world of today.
As Smirnov once commented about painting, “I just need it. I have to do it on an everyday basis,” and we, his viewers, are grateful.

Solo Exhibits:

2024 – Hauteart Gallery, Limassol, Cyprus

2018 – ANTONIJA Gallery, Riga, Latvia

2006 – TIMMONS Gallery, Rancho Santa Fe, California

2005 – Galerie GEORGE International, San Clemente, California

2003 – SUNJIN Gallery, Singapore

2000 – GALERIE MICHELANGELO in Caesars Palace Hotel, Las Vegas

1997 – JAN Galleria, La Jolla, California
ART SELLERS, Inc., San Juan Capistrano, California
ART ENTERPRISE Gallery, Las Vegas, Nevada

1996 – ART BRILLANT, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

1995 – ART BRILLANT, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

1993 – GAIL ROFF Fine Art, Seal Beach, California

1992 – ARTEXPO CAL’92, Los Angeles, California

1991 – ARTEXPO CAL’91, Los Angeles, California

1990 – ARTEXPO CAL’90, Los Angeles, California

1988 – LA CHAISE Gallery, Beverly Hills, California

Group Shows:

2025 – Galleria360, contemporary art gallery in Florence, Italy

2024 – Europe Art Fair, Amsterdam, The Netherland, September

2021 – Pinter Art Gallery,  Budapest, Hungary, Signalati project, November

2021 – ART Basel, Art Screen TV gallery, Switzerland, September 2021

2018 – ART RIGA FAIR

2016 – San Diego Art Expo, November

2015 – Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Art, April

2013 – Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Art, September 2013

2008 – OSTROV EXPO, Union of Russian Artists, St. Petersburg, Russia
ARTEXPO New York’08, New York

2005 / 06 – TIMMONS Gallery, Rancho Santa Fe, California

2004 – Galerie MICHELANGELO in Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada

2003 – MARSHALL Gallery, Laguna Beach, California

2001 – GALERIE MICHELANGELO in Caesars Palace Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada

1999 – ARTEXPO NEW YORK’99, New York
WENTWORTH Galleries, Miami, Florida

1998 – JAN Galleria, La Jolla, California

1997 – ART BRILLANT Gallery, Beverly Hills, California

1995 / 96 – COLLECTORS EDITIONS, Inc., Los Angeles, California

1995 – ARTEXPO NEW YORK’95, New York

1994 – ARTEXPO CAL’94, Las Vegas, Nevada

1991 / 94 – GAIL ROFF Fine Art, Seal Beach, California

1991 – SUNSET Galleries, Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii
FRANKLIN Gallery of Art, Sacramento, California
CORNERSTONE Galleries, Beverly Hills, California
PRINT MERCHANTS in Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, California

1990 – ROSOVSKY Gallery, Laguna Beach, California

1989 – UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France
FUND OF RUSSIAN CONTEMPORARY ART, Munich and Frankfurt, Germany

1982 / 87 – Major ‘Underground Art’ Shows in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia