[Norlisk] A Sunny Night In Norilsk (2020)

Material: Colored Pencil, Ink

Surface: Illustration Board

The goal here was to understand and create environments. Starting off with creating landscape pieces of real environments. At the time I was studying soviet utilitarian and 90s Japanese architecture. Spending time in the slide library at Concordia observing many images of such places and areas.

One of these areas was Norilsk, a nickel mining town. Its heavy gulag past and influences still very much remain. Many of the buildings and residential areas are still standing since that time. One of the more iconic parts of Norilsk is the inclement weather. In tourist imagery one can see more clean streets, vibrant city plazas and vibrant snowy scenery. When it snows, its a different story. The streets are completely caked in snow, extreme blizzards and its buildings almost being swept away like boats on a raging sea. How each massive complex gives off the appearance that it is riding along with the snow makes it feel both modern but also oddly mystical.

As for the work itself, the use of colored pencils were important, as the graininess of the mark replicated the decaying concrete of the buildings. Using the white space to replicate the massive blanket of snow was something I was also experimenting with. The light strokes of the watery ink, staining the paper was the approach used to simulate the low visibility environment.

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