“I really like to paint angels”: Icon painter in the space of the modern city

The interview discusses themes of “naive” icon painting in the cultural space of the modern city, the mission of religious art and freedom of artistic creation. Elmira Iarudova, an artist from Pskov, answers questions about universal and local iconographic canon, emotional connection of an iconographer with his work, correlation between artistic creativity and social and cultural space, mutual influence of fine art and personal growth, peculiarities of regional Christian iconography, and about languages and styles of modern iconography. The dialog clarifies the positions of the contemporary urban artist about relationship between tradition and innovation in the sphere of religious art, functions of the icon, the meaning of artistic creation, history and prospects of the icon-painting tradition in Russia, and the visual aspects of cultural and confessional identity.