AL MALE
01 / ARTIST PROFILE
BASED IN
St. Petersburg, RU
PRACTICE
Figurative art
Psychological realism
MATERIALS
Oil, acrylic,
mixed media
Themes
Human form, nature,
emotions, intimacy
WEBSITE
02 / PERSPECTIVE
IN CONVERSATION
1
At what age did you start drawing?
I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember. I could spend days drawing, cutting, creating cities, and characters living in them. Drawing gave me the freedom to create my own worlds.
2
Who taught you to draw?
No one taught me; I think this talent is in my genes. Both my mom and grandma graduated from art school and draw beautifully, but neither continued a career as an artist.
3
Where do you get ideas for your paintings?
It’s a fascinating process: a painting always arises from an internal dialogue, from a question I contemplate for a long time, from the pain I experience. I ask myself a question, and the answer comes in the form of a painting. Hence, the pricing: the deeper the message a painting holds for me, the higher its value.
4
Which of your works is your favorite?
“A Girl with a Pomegranate.” It literally saved me during a difficult breakup. I was sitting at the table, feeling drained. Then the thought came to my mind: go and paint. I grabbed the canvas, took a pencil, and the image came to me. I began to outline the female torso with such passion and madness; the hand with the brush was flying, in these movements, there was neither a plan nor a goal, as if someone else was painting for me. The painting emerged – the pain retreated. Meaning returned.
5
Why do some works captivate while others don’t?
I believe paintings have an info-field – what they are born from, how they were painted, what the artist was thinking while creating them – all of it is encoded in the painting. The viewer reads this. I paint my pictures to music, always sing. Sometimes the work sets the mood, sometimes the music influences the work.
6
What’s the connection between painting and music?
For me, it’s about the same: I can visualize music, or I can sing a painting. In a museum, I love looking at great paintings with musical accompaniment. I look at Malyavin’s Dancing Women listening to Gogol Bordello, Vrubel’s Flying Demon listening to Requiem, and explore Kandinsky with Schnittke’s compositions.
7
What is the value of your works?
The value for me is that through painting, I understand the world; it’s my additional organ of perception to face reality. From the moment the painting appears in my head, through the process of creation – which immerses me in contemplation and experiences – to the final stroke, where I understand that the painting is finished and the topic has been exhausted. This is where catharsis always happens. The value for the viewer? It’s in the opportunity to touch the sensual. We are accustomed to hiding our feelings, even from ourselves. But mine are all out there. I think what I reflect on in my works is close to many: loss of a loved one or oneself, the search for hope and support, the path of living one’s life, whether it’s right or wrong – if it resonates with the viewer, if it supports someone, that’s already a lot, that’s the value.
03 / SILENCE, PLEASE
NOW SHOWING
i a m o k
To feel pain means to be alive. To feel anxiety and fear means having the ability to recognize danger. To feel anger means striving to protect your boundaries. To desire something passionately means seeing direction for your growth. To feel a range of emotions means being okay.
To feel pain means to be alive.
To feel anxiety and fear means having the ability to recognize danger.
To feel anger means striving to protect your boundaries.
To desire something passionately means seeing direction for your growth.
To feel a range of emotions means being okay.
The artist Al Male draws inspiration from emotional states familiar to many: grief, the search for meaning, obsession, anxiety, and anger. Her paintings are the result of introspection — an endless inner dialogue between good and evil, hidden desires and moral norms. Through her female protagonists, she explores the full spectrum of emotions. By bringing her demons to the canvas, she reveals them to the light, stripping them of power. She does not deny the darker aspects of her soul, but gives them space. Declaring “I’m okay,” the artist invites the viewer to recognize the value of inner experiences — no matter their nature — and to treat oneself with care and tenderness.
