As children, we come into the world with our eyes and minds wide open. Every component of this world is of equal interest, importance and lovability – a short-living tiny snowflake, a shiny beetle on a flower, a pearly guppy in the fish tank, a huge and smelly elephant at the zoo, a grey-haired nanny speaking a funny dialect, a sweet and hot aroma of fresh pavement in the street, a colorful sunset cloud changing its shape to that of all possible - and impossible – animals, the vast blue sea (the Black Sea, that is) solemnly tipping over from the horizon when first seen by a five-year-old, et cetera. With age and education, comes experience, and together with it, the acceptance of hierarchy in things, connections, events, as commonly prescribed for humans for the purpose of survival, of finding their way correctly throughout their lifetime. With experience, comes coldness of judgement and a certain share of cynicism. It is hard to catch the exact moment of losing that inner child, but we both seem to remember the first alarming hints of that process as we were starting our careers in architectural preservation in our early twenties during the last phases of the Soviet Union’s existence. Luckily for both of us, that was the time when we ran into each other at our first - and last - architectural jobs in our hometown Moscow, and started jointly working in preservation of that precious and fragile internal treasure, gently deviating further from architecture and deeper into free-lance fine art. This “deviation” quickly culminated in a final severance not only from architecture, but from life as we knew it altogether – namely, in departure from Russia in 1990. Such “deviated” existence has been our life ever since (for the first eight years, based in Anchorage, Alaska, and for scary-to-say-how-many years after that – here in Carmel and Pebble Beach, California), consuming us completely. The inner child has prevailed – everything is important, there is no hierarchy of the main and the minor, hence comes the multitude of our interests, the diversity of our work, the variability of our approach. The complexity of human soul in a portrait, the tenderness of a flower in a still life, the sound of wind in a Dutch clipper’s sails, the smell of rain drops, persistently trying to wash off the paint from our canvas in Cornwall – all of them infinite, fragile, engaging… Our choice of subjects seems to evolve in cycles, even in infatuations, during lengthy time periods. In the past, at the turn of the century (or, rather, at the turn of the millennium), it was the magic of Parisian plein air. Further on, for a number of years, it was Venice and Venetian Carnival, overlapped with and later dominated by moving horse carriages in Brugge, Belgium. Then an unforgettable trip to Scottish Highlands, and a series of trips to Greve in Chianti, in the heart of Tuscany. In-between, an ever-going succession of California plein air landscapes and still lifes with season's flowers, fruit or vegetables - how could one resist such temptations! Or, a large studio genre would decide to take over... Yet, as far as the main line of work, again, it is usually an overall direction that gets us immersed in it over a period of months or even years. Lately, we have been immensely attracted to European harbors of various sizes, various countries, various characters – Honfleur (France), Hoorn (Netherlands), small towns on Lake Garda (Italy), Mevagissey, Cornwall (UK). A large collection of plein air works has come to life, as well as a number of larger studio works, based on these plein air experiences. The greatest appeal of this subject to us is the interaction of the neighboring elements, in their various densities and degrees of staticity/dynamicity - the barely visible dynamic element of air (thin), the more pronounced dynamic element of water (thicker), the static element of buildings (thick, dense) and the static/dynamic element of boats (relatively thick and dense) floating on the moving water - and, of course, the light - dynamic, with indefinable density - you cannot palpate it, yet, it would be strange and belittling to call it "thin"... How all these coexist with each other, how they touch each other, how they reflect in each other and get affected by each other… As always with collaborative work, the greatest challenge is learning to respect the opinion of the creative partner and to accept constructive criticism. Begun over thirty years ago, collaboration has become our "trademark". At that starting point, if we remember correctly, the idea of collaboration was more than anything an experiment, in attempt to avoid competition (and conflict!) within the family... Not that it was a solution for that purpose, as it turned out, - naturally, new challenges came about. Although some rough edges have, certainly, become much smoother - in a plein air situation, we do not even need to verbally discuss the initial concept, to say nothing of arguing about it, it is enough just to exchange glances and get our hands on it, - yet, the completion point is still always a sensitive area. It is somewhat easier en plein air, where we start and finish together, simultaneously, and there is no time to afford much discussion or argument - sometimes, not even enough time to breathe! We usually do not finish in one session, it takes two or three of them, and when it is time to “round it up”, everything has changed too much - the weather has changed, the light is different, the boat has left - and we know we have to move on. A plein air trip offers only a limited number of days - and an extensive number of canvases we have pledged to start and complete on site! At the studio, it is a different story. We have plenty of time to torture each other's egos! Over the years, we have come to accept the idea of working on two-three studio pieces at the same time, with each of us switching from piece to piece and giving some "breathing room" to the other one for doing what he/she thinks necessary to be done on each piece in progress. The greatest challenge here is not to "overdry" the piece, to find the nerve to restrain the Janus-faced perfectionism and to leave some room for spontaneity, even error… As children, we come into the world with our eyes and minds wide open. As artists, we have the privilege of keeping them like that for the entire lifetime. We explore this world, observe it, feel connected to it, marvel at its wonders, reflect upon the amazing associations and similarities, embrace the differences – and attempt to express our feelings about it on the canvas. We humbly create a world of our own, which would be useless, unless shared. Welcome to our world! * * * RECENT DUO-EXHIBITS: "Glimpses into the Old World", The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Harts Pianohandel, Hoorn, Netherlands, July/August 2024, "Sailing Through Time", The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, March 2024,"Painterly Visions of North Holland", The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Harts Pianohandel, Hoorn, Netherlands, September 2023, "New Works by Evgeny and Lydia Baranov", The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, January 2023"Springtime in the Netherlands", The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, February 2022"Hoorn Revisited", The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Peter Hart Piano Handel, Hoorn, Netherlands, September 2021"Evgeny and Lydia Baranov, New Works", The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, August 2021"Fall Inspirations", The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, October 2020"Impressions of Mevagissey", The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Wheel House Restaurant, Mevagissey, Cornwall, United Kingdom, September 2019“European Romance”, The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, August 2019“European Vacation”, The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, April 2018The Baranovs Two Person Show, Jones and Terwilliger Galleries, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, November 2016"De Baranov's - Expositie nieuwe havengezichten", The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Korenmarkt 5 Hoorn, Netherlands, September 2016“Art Walk This Friday”, The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, September 2016"Beauty of Hoorn", The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Peter Hart Piano Handel, Hoorn, Netherlands, May 2016“European Holiday”, The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, February 2016“Honfleur and Bruges”, The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, January-February 2015“Honfleur and Tuscany”, The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, January 2014New Works, The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, February 2013The Baranovs Two Person Exhibit, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, September 2011The Baranovs Two Person Show, Jones and Terwilliger Galleries, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, October 2011The Baranovs Two Person Show, Jones and Terwilliger Galleries, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, October 2008"Russian Romance", The Baranovs Two Artists Exhibit, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, August 2008The Baranovs Two Person Show, Jones and Terwilliger Galleries, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, October 2007The Baranovs Two Person Show, Jones and Terwilliger Galleries, Palm Desert, California, March 2007The Baranovs Two Person Show, Jones and Terwilliger Galleries, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, October 2006The Baranovs Two Person Show, Jones and Terwilliger Galleries, Palm Desert, California, April 2006The Baranovs Two Person Show, Jones and Terwilliger Galleries, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, June 2005The Baranovs Two Artists Exhibit, Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina, April 2005The Baranovs Two Person Show, Jones and Terwilliger Galleries, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, May 2004The Baranovs Two Person Show, Jones and Terwilliger Galleries, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, August 2003The Baranovs Two Person Show, Jones and Terwilliger Galleries, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, August 2002The Baranovs Two Person Show, Jones and Terwilliger Galleries, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, August 2001"Russian Realism Comes to California" - Two-Artists Exhibit, Morseburg Galleries, West Hollywood, California October 2000The Baranovs Two Person Show, Jones and Terwilliger Galleries, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, September 2000Two-Artists Exhibit, Gallerie Amsterdam, Carmel, California, October 1999From Russia to America" - Two-Artists Exhibit, Morseburg Galleries, West Hollywood, California, July 1999 GENERAL BIOGRAPHY HIGHLIGHTS Both Evgeny Baranov and Lydia Baranov (née Lydia Velichko) were born in Moscow, Russia. Both received Master of Science degrees from Moscow Architectural Institute (in 1984 and 1987, respectively) and worked as architects in historic preservation, as well as artists part-time. Evgeny and Lydia got married in 1990 and moved to the United States in the same year. Lived in Anchorage, Alaska (1990-1998), moved to Carmel, California (1998) and to Pebble Beach, California (2003 – current). Works by the Baranovs are represented in numerous private, corporate and government collections in over a dozen countries, including the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Russia, Colombia, and Australia. Information on publications, awards, and important commissions can be provided upon request.