There is this vastness in the Australian landscape… endless and mesmerising. No matter how many times I tried to paint or draw it, it was beyond my embrace. But as soon as I bring a human figure into the landscape and orchestrate some story line, things become more manageable and come alive. I dare to take the mission of light upon myself, and then, like a conductor in the theatre, decide what needs to be lit up and what needs to remain in shadow. Working with a figure in the landscape keeps my senses in the state of permanent arousal, only when the painter is truly excited, the events on canvas start to live lives of their own.
I’d love to use the quote by Veronique Helmridge-Marsillian, (doctor of philosophy from the University of Sydney). ”An opulent and transient dream-such is the tender moment painted by Dmitry Kuznichenko. It glistens with the spangle of an insect’s wings; it shimmers with the silk of a girl’s hair; it dances down the arabesques of childhood. What do you get, when old-world European aestheticism is transplanted to the Aussie backyard? You get a resplendent affirmation of life dappled with humour.
”Zooming in” versions I and II, shows a couple who went out at night, to seize the secrete of nature- but instead were seized by it. As the dazzling dragonfly swoops towards the camera lens, its iridescent wings quiver with the lover’s embrace. Joy is a moment with an eternal core.”