I am the co-owner and director of Mason Murer Fine Art. The gallery is a 24,000 square foot facility located in Atlanta, GA. Please see the attached regarding Mason Murer.

My gallery exhibits regional talent as well as artists from around the world. I was introduced to the work of Sergey Danilin through his books, Volume I and Volume II. I recently met with him in Atlanta and reviewed recent additions to his portfolio. I am pleased to have this opportunity to share my opinion regarding his work.

Sergei Danilin is heralded in Europe and in the United States as a living legend. He is a practicing master of Romantic Realism. Paintings like Danilin’s are more commonly found in the pages of art history books. He masterfully continues the Renaissance and Baroque tradition, yet he advances it. Danilin does not simply paint what is apparent. He melds the physical and spiritual characteristics of his subjects into the most telling portrait possible. Time after time, Danilin illuminates his subject’s soul.

A deeply religious man, Danilin refers to the children in his paintings as his “angels.” The recurring use of apples in the portraits symbolizes fresh and youthful innocence, like that prior to Adam and Eve’s discoveries. Danilin’s teen, adult and family paintings, though typically “casual,” reveal and immortalize the nobility and beauty in his subjects. The compelling canvases celebrate the splendor of love that is shared.

Photographs offer accurate replications of its subject and surroundings. How does an artist, using paint on canvas, produce results such as those described?

Consider Danilin’s history. He is a fifty-year-old Russian. For the first two-thirds of his existence, his religious beliefs, family values and creative freedoms were suppressed by Soviet collectivism. Yet, he could not ignore his heartfelt convictions. He painted religious and historical figures in spite of the risk of harassment and censure by the Communist party. When Russia rose from the political phoenix in 1990, Danilin’s effervescent creativity was liberated.

A portrait artist is inherently an inquiring student of life, observing everything that contributes to the look, the posture, the feeling – the nature and spirit of the subject. In 1992, Danilin traveled to the US to observe the freedom he had only imagined – that of American life. He wrote that he hoped to find a “common human spirit.” He penetrated the American facade and recognized, collected, orchestrated and recorded both the unique and universal nuances of human-ness in paintings that followed.

Danilin is an inspiration to portrait artists and figurative painters worldwide. His technical knowledge, global perspective, emotional insight and cultural diversity make him an honored member of the international artistic population. The American artistic community welcomes him.

Respectfully submitted,
Mark Mason Karelson
Director, Mason Murer Fine Art