The Historic “Russian Banya” at Banya No.1

The original version of this artwork was first published in 1988 on the cover of the widely popular magazine Ogon’ok and it made the artist famous in the Soviet nation, but perhaps not in the best sense. Soviet readers were indignant and demanded punishment for the manifestation of pornography and the disrespect for the braces. Because of this work, Sima was forced to leave the USSR and move to London.

The second picture was painted in 2018 and is now at Banya No.1 and available for purchase. The price is available on application.

About Sima Vasilieva

Sima was born in Ukraine in 1954. A graduate of Moscow State University, she has been painting since 1980 and has participated in numerous prestigious exhibitions. She works in an unusual style, painting on wooden boards creating colour-saturated pictures that combine a great sense of humour, the grotesque and deep lyricism. She has been a London-based artist since 1990. Having moved to the UK, Sima began collaborating with the Scottish sculptor Tim Stead and painted on carved wooden objects from his workshop. Sima used the natural beauty of the ring and grain pattern flowing through the timber to create organic and often abstract pictorial elements arranged in fluid compositions.

Recently, Sima has spent nearly three years living in Malaysia and has also travelled to Japan and China. Her travels and interest in Asiatic cultures are reflected in some of her most recent work.

Currently, Sima’s work is reverting back to the Sotz-Art movement to which she once belonged as she has created a gallery of Soviet characters painted on wooden scoops. (The Russian word for scoop is “Sovok”, which also refers to a “Soviet person” or someone who has retained the old Soviet mentality).