Dutch Touch

Inspired by The Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals—and by the spirit of the Flemish masters whose brushwork held both precision and pulse—I wanted to honor that moment when technique meets soul. Their portraits always seemed to breathe, the life of their sitters flickering quietly behind the gaze.

This small portrait of Ruslan in a hat became a kind of meditation before a larger work where he appears again. There is something timeless about his presence—his face carries traces of many cultures, as if it drifts freely through eras, belonging to all and to none.