Igor Viktorovich Baranov is a painter and graphic artist. He is a member of the Russian Union of Artists. Baranov was born in St. Petersburg in 1983. In 2007, he graduated from the Graphics Faculty of the Ilya Repin St. Petersburg Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. His graduation work was a series of 16 hand-painted etchings titled “Kalevala”. They were immediately acquired by the Scientific Research Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts for its permanent collection.
The “Kalevala” narrative spans a significant period of time, from the beginning of the world to the advent of Christianity. It reveals the mysteries of the universe and the origins of all things. These runes emerged from ancient mythology, when myths formed the basis of people’s understanding of the world, its origins, and transformations.
At the beginning, there was only water. The creation of the world and the first human in the epic poem “Kalevala” originates from the union of a female deity, a bird, and the elements of air and water. Upon the lap of the lonely daughter of the air, Ilmatar, who rests on the crest of a wave, a duck builds a nest and lays her eggs. After awakening, Ilmatar accidentally drops the eggs, which hit the water and break. From these broken eggs, the earth, sky, sun, moon, and stars are born. The mother of waters creates bays, capes, shores, and depths.
Anthropomorphism, or the attribution of human traits to nature, is also evident in the “Kalevala”. Birds and fish offer guidance to humans; the sun, moon, and stars communicate with one another; the road and birch trees lament their sad fate.
The world of “Kalevala” is home to a variety of spirits, who are the protectors and guardians of nature. These spirits are masters (or mistresses) over various elements, objects, and phenomena: the Master of the Forest Tapio, the Maiden of Water, the Maiden of the Forest, the Maiden of the Moon, the Sun’s Daughter, the Mistress of the Fields, the Mistress of the Soil, and many others.
The magical forces and their interactions are depicted in the illustrations created by the artist Igor Baranov. These illustrations depict not only the creation of the world but also the origin of the first human being. The goddess of the air, Ilmatar, had a reason to rest on the waters of the primordial ocean: she was carrying a child. Finally, Ilmatar gave birth to Wainamoinen, the first human, who is the main character in the “Kalevala” and the forefather of the people of Kalevala.
