Holy monkeys' by Latvian artist garners attention of art buyers and critics

JOURNAL OF TURKISH WEEKLY
By Maria Kugel and Daisy Sindelar

A detail from Blue Monkey (above), which was so popular it was purchased before it could be featured in the annual winners' exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London.

LATIVIA---All sorts of motifs turn up in Sergei Dyomin's mildly dystopic paintings -- pigs, sewing machines, railway cars. But it's the monkeys that proved the lucky break. Dyomin, an artist living in the Latvian capital, Riga, won international attention in 2010 when his icon-style painting Boris And Gleb -- featuring two monkeys in the guise of the 11th-century Orthodox saints -- was a finalist in an online competition created by the prestigious Saatchi Gallery. Dyomin's "holy monkeys" have definitely raised his profile in the art world. Most of his paintings now sell for upwards of $10,000 apiece. [link]

Boris And Gleb by Sergei Dyomin