The series "Balloons," an illusory version of the "classic Russian landscape," was born during the pandemic and global lockdown, as the artist observed the mysterious and eerie emptiness of the lake for a long time. Suddenly, an orange balloon appeared on the horizon—an embodiment of the fragility of "life" and a self-portrait of the observer, symbolizing the capriciousness of fate. As if filled with someone's breath, it created a sense of the otherworldly object while being helpless against the absurdity of chance and the forces of nature.
In this series, Ruslan Ermolaev aimed not only to capture the vulnerable beauty of the moment but also to return to pure art— a simple landscape without narrative. Drawing on the artistic solutions of impressionists and peredvizhniki, Ermolaev remains true to the St. Petersburg tradition of the "heavenly line," based on the principle of uniting the landscape and the sky.