Semen Eruntsov: The Tangible Graphic

Semen Eruntsov’s assertive, graphic artwork swings effortlessly from representative to abstract, often within a single image. Eruntsov’s inspirations are numerous, from the human body to natural phenomena to purely visual patternwork. He works in acrylic, oil, or pastel, depending on the physicality of the piece. With streamlined planes, bold color contrasts, and a simple central, tightly-framed composition, Eruntsov highlights one element per canvas. That element may be the subject itself – a vibrant depiction of the moon in the sky, or the visual pun of a human hand covered in quasi-camouflage paint. It may be a technique; one work is a canvas filled with a delicate feathering of color. It may be one kind of abstraction, practiced on one object: the paring down of an idea. Whatever the message, each of Eruntsov’s works is imbued with tangible spatial presence and emotional atmospherics.

Eruntsov was born in Russia and today lives in Moscow. He declines to classify his work as any one style or technique, and instead describes it as “pure improvisation.”