Portraits / Soviet Girls Drinking and Smoking

Nadia Khuzina, MFA

It is kind of odd a lot of my recent paintings involve smoking cigars (like the Che Guevara one) and in this one a Soviet style cigarette. I have never smoked and drink very seldomly. Maybe there is something Freudian there, or maybe the past dictates the future a little bit.

This work is a continuation on my series of women as they were in the Soviet Union. It is on 11"x14" canvas board. I like this format for painting quickly. Less area means less time, but not necessarily less beauty. I am now devoting my time more on larger format works and video production. Video seems to connect better with the American demographic for some reason...

The concept of this work is simple, girls going as wild as they could during Soviet times. The girls are not lesbians this time, but close friends or even sisters. They don't have a lot of time to drink or smoke and must do so quietly in the basement or in the forrest.