Energy is all around us, but it’s not always visible. Artist Ivan Pokidyshev brings human warmth and emotion to the surface through his ethereal paintings. His artworks are inspired by thermography and Transmitted Infrared Photography (IRT), a technique that uses infrared light to reveal hidden structures and patterns beneath old paintings.
Pokidyshev’s practice merges science and art, exploring the invisible forces of light and heat that connect us. Pokidyshev tells My Modern Met, “I want to create my own visual poetry. The poetry of love and hope—the poetry of light and warmth.”
The artist’s Light and Warmth project, launched in 2018, depicts human connection by rendering heat as an inner glow emanating from his subjects. Pokidyshev describes human heat as “vital energy overflowing from one figure to another, expansively splashing out, or, on the contrary, fading under the influence of emptiness and cold.”
As his work evolved, Pokidyshev’s focus shifted from the physical contrast of warmth and cold to the expressive power of light itself. He now sees light as not only a visual tool, but as a symbolic and emotional language. “I build my compositions around two opposing principles,” the artist explains, “the glow that illuminates a person from within and the dark emptiness that surrounds them.”
From a newborn glowing with intense warmth to a couple illuminated in red and pink just before a kiss, each of Pokidyshev’s paintings radiates the living energy of what it means to be human.
Check out some of the artist’s oil paintings below and find more on Ivan Pokidyshev’s Instagram.
Artist Ivan Pokidyshev brings human warmth and emotion to the surface through his ethereal paintings.
His thermography-inspired artworks explore the invisible forces of light and heat.
Each vibrant painting radiates the living energy of what it means to be human.
Ivan Pokidyshev: Instagram
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Ivan Pokidyshev.
Related Articles:
Stunning Light Paintings Spotlight the Radiance of a Contemporary Dancer
Cinematic Photos Look Like Hyperrealistic Paintings With Mysterious Stories To Tell [Interview]
Moody Geometric Landscape Paintings Appear To Glow in the Moonlight
Paintings of People Wrapped in Golden “Blankets” Leaves You Guessing What’s Happening [Interview]