Semi-abstract paintings that start from a real place
A semi-abstract painting keeps a thread back to something real. In the work of Sergei Troshin that thread is often a place he has stood in, and he names it.
Five of those paintings are available now, in a small gallery in Markham, just north of Toronto.
Call +1 (416) 919-8331
What does semi-abstract mean?
Art teachers in the UK put it simply: work that is still recognisably drawn from real life is sometimes called semi abstract, as the NSEAD glossary entry on abstract art says. You may not see a horizon or a tree. You see what was taken from the place: its colour, its weather, the grain of its stone.
That is why the title matters so much in this kind of painting. It tells you where to look.
Three places you can still find in the paint
Each of these works has a page where the artist writes about the place it came from. Here is the place, a fact you can check about it, a few of his words, and the painting.
Meissen and Saxon Switzerland
The town where the first European hard-paste porcelain was made; the royal factory there started in 1710 (Wikipedia on Meissen porcelain). Upriver lies a national park of sandstone cliffs over the Elbe.
“the emerald forests of Saxon Switzerland”
Sergei Troshin studied at the University of Jena and travelled through eastern Germany. The porcelain blue comes from a natural wood dye, and on Morgenwald the surface carries a slight crackle, as old porcelain glaze does. Two versions exist, both available.
The Dead Sea
Its surface lies 439.78 metres below sea level, so its shores are the lowest land on Earth (Wikipedia on the Dead Sea). A khamsin is the hot, sandy wind of the region; the name means fifty in Arabic, and the air can drop below 5% humidity (Wikipedia on the khamsin).
“The sun takes its rest behind Massada”
The artist lived and worked by this sea. Sunset at the Dead Sea is the wine-red of the hour after the sun goes. Hamsin keeps the other memory: a sandstorm that turned the air burgundy, then cleared over turquoise water. Both are natural dye, acrylic and resin on wood.
The Western Wall, Jerusalem
The one work here where the place is still almost drawn: look at the middle of the panel and the courses of stone are there, laid at an angle, under a storm of coloured line.
“a witness of the ages”
The artist wrote this page as a diary entry, painting the wall and touching its stones. Acrylic and resin on fibreboard, 2020.
How much of the place is left in the title?
The catalogue runs from works that name a place to works that name nothing at all. Knowing where a painting sits on that scale helps when you search the full catalogue.
The title names a place
The artist’s page tells you where it began. These are the semi-abstract works in the strict sense.
The title names a time of year
No place, but a season or a kind of light. You bring your own memory of it.
White Night
Spring Thoughts
Autumn HysteriaThe title names nothing outside the paint
Fully abstract. Colour, line and surface are the whole subject.
Untitled 1
TruthWhy see a semi-abstract painting in person?
In these works the place lives in the surface, and a screen flattens the surface first. The Meissen blue is a dye that sinks into the wood instead of sitting on top of it; our note on natural dye versus paint on wood explains what that changes.
If blue is what draws you, the page on blue abstract paintings gathers every blue work in one place.
- Stand a metre away, then step to one side. Resin and dye change with the angle, and a fine crackle like the one on Morgenwald shows best when light comes from the side.
- Look for the order of the layers, which tells you how the place was built up. Our guide to reading a layered surface shows how.
- Bring the width of your wall. Two of the five are four feet square, and one is over four feet long.
Is there a place that matters to you?
The artist paints commissions. Read how commissioning a painting works, then call and tell us about the place.
Questions about semi-abstract work
What is the difference between abstract and semi-abstract?
An abstract painting does not set out to show anything you could point to. A semi-abstract one starts from something real, a place, a wind, a wall, and keeps a trace of it, even when the picture no longer looks like a view.
Are these semi-abstract paintings available?
Morgenwald in Meissen, Morning Forest in Meissen, Sunset at the Dead Sea, Hamsin (2022) and Western Wall are all marked available in the catalogue. Prices are on request.
Where can I see them near Toronto?
At the gallery, 473 Simonston Blvd, Markham, just north of the Toronto line. It is open daily 9:00 to 18:00, and viewings are by appointment.
Can I ask for a painting of a place that matters to me?
The artist takes commissions. Call +1 (416) 919-8331 and tell us about the place, the wall and the size you have in mind. The artist’s page tells his story.
More works to ask about
Come and see the places in the paint
Call +1 (416) 919-8331 any day between 9:00 and 18:00. Ask about a title or its price, or agree a time to see it at 473 Simonston Blvd, Markham.