Sergie Persov |
One gentle flick of a brush, and a jaw is defined, the border of a headscarf revealed, and a strand of deliberately errant hair replicated. A dab of paint and the eyes brighten, at first unconvincingly but later magically real, and the portrait goes from being a still approximation of the young lady to become a living second of her youth.
Watching Sergei Persov paint feels like spying on creation. Standing behind him as he reveals first the vague outlines of an individual, then a face, then eyes, lips, a nose and so on is like peeking through a window into the first chapter of human existence. The only difference is that rather than fashioning these creatures from soil of his own accord, he is simply rendering an imitation.
Of the dozen or so artists who take up temporary residence at malls and other popular venues during Dubai Shopping Festival and Dubai Summer Surprises, this man working out of the first floor of the BurJuman Centre is widely regarded as the best. Little wonder - he is a professional artist and art teacher, not an amateur looking for a little cash on the side.
His appearance, however, hides his qualifications well. There are none of the accoutrements you might associate with an artist - in place of a smock, he wears a printed T-shirt and a leather waistcoat; instead of a palette there are little squishes and smidgens of black paint on a cheap plywood tray; and instead of a fancy studio with controlled lighting there are two straight-backed vinyl chairs, fake potted plants and the Grand Stores shop facade in the background.
Even his tools are rudimentary: two slender brushes that look like freebies from a cereal box, an everyday painter's brush similar to what you and I would use to paint the kitchen cupboard to define the shadows, and one of those grainy schoolbox blue-brown erasers for the details. And a dollop of midnight black oil paint, the basis of his oil-on-watercolour paper technique.
"All my life, I have wanted to draw," says the Russia-born Persov. "First as a child trying to record all the things and people around me, then as an art student in university, and then as a street artist in Moscow."
At 48, his affinity for creating has come full circle. After receiving his diploma in portraiture and being well established in galleries around Russia, he took up a teaching position at an art school but eventually gave it up to return to creating his own work. "This is what I love," he says, casting his eyes around the throngs of people walking by his space in the mall. "I could be exhibiting in a gallery, but I want the freedom."
He has even turned down a job offer to teach art at a school in Denver, Colorado, a solid job with a solid income. Instead, he travels from Russia through Eastern Europe, down the Mediterranean and into the Middle East following celebrations and crowds.
He has been to Dubai some 10 times in the last four to five years for the various shopping festivals and summer promotions, to Malta, Poland and Cyprus.
In the winter, he works in Germany and Holland, popular Christmas destinations and art centres, and in the summer he heads for Dubai. Despite being one of the best at what he does, Persov isn't rich. He charges a few hundred dirhams per portrait, and each one represents close to an hour of work.
"If I charge normal price, I would be out of work because of what other people in the market are charging," he said.
When window shoppers pass Persov, they inevitably stop and look at what he's currently painting and at the gallery of finished portraits above his easel. Some are of popular stars such as George Clooney and Sean Connery, but one looks like a young King Abdullah of Jordan.
This, Persov admits laughingly, is a self-portrait from decades ago. The hair and face are largely different from his present-day self, but the mouth and the eyes are the same. "It is true that the eyes are the mirrors of the soul, but the mouth can say a lot about a person," he says of his favourite parts of the human face.
"Wherever you go in the world, there are no same faces," he says. "Even in twins, the face looks the same but the difference in character always shows through. Everyone is interesting, even for someone like me who sees and studies hundreds of faces for a living. That's what I hope people will take back from me, apart from just their portrait - that there's a little magic in each of us."
