LERA (VALERIJA) BARSHTEIN

When Grandma and Grandpa Were Little

I've always been fascinated by old photographs: I couldn't believe that those gorgeous ladies with the plumed hats and the floor-sweeping dresses, and their curly-mustachioed husbands, were actually my relatives. I wanted to paint their lives. After beginning work on the "When Grandma and Grandpa Were Little" series, I felt that I was getting closer to them and beginning to understand them better. It was a sort of "time machine". Work on this series is still ongoing, and I enjoy every moment of it.