Mike Sol (born on 1991).

When he was five his father joined a religious sect and left the family. This fact ultimately influenced Mike’s art and
themes of his paintings. Because of a mother’s new family, he had to live in a small 6-square-meter room and distance himself from them. For almost 15 years, he lived with these people like a stranger. He never talked to his stepfather and had problems with peers at school, so the only solution he found was to create his own world where he could feel comfortable. That is how he discovered philosophy and poetry, and then later painting and classical music. At the age of 15, he started to think, how could he express himself and leave a mark in history? Mike chose to paint because it corresponds to his perception of the world.

His development as a serious artist started after finishing a children’s art school. The love of painting turned into a profession. At the age of 15, he created his first lino print inspired by Goya’s series “Los caprichos”.
In 2008, he got into the Art College and became a teacher of fine arts. After that in 2014, he entered the Ilya Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, the Department of Painting. The Academy of Arts opened up a new world and access to knowledge about art for him.

At the beginning of his journey as an artist, Mike did not look for some special plastic language but studied Old Masters’ painting techniques. His priority was to show materiality and three-dimensional space. But the more his skills improved, the more he started to think about thoughts and feelings he wants to express.
In the search for the theme that would let him reveal all the creative potential, Mike dealt with historical, religious, mythological subjects, and acute social issues. Now he tries to use centuries’ experience in painting techniques to show the power of realism and depth of eternal philosophic thought.

Mike’s paintings are kept in private collections in Canada, Russia, China and Germany.