Precisely detailed with life like creases in the clothing and lines on the faces, two portraits stand at two meters by two and a half meters. One is of the face of a Parisian firefighter the second, not yet complete, is of a group of parisian firefighters with the map of Paris behind them. They are the work of Serigo Ostroverhy, Russian born painter, ex-parisian firefigher and war correspondant for the french foreign legion. For the past 20 years he has painted mostly portraits of Parisian firemen. Why did he start to paint firemen? “Well if I was able to tell you that I would not be painting them. I am a portraitist. I am amazed by the human face you see.” Serigo started painting when he was living in the United States in the early 80s, at that time he drew portraits of cheerleaders who were in his class. He moved to France in 1985 where he joined the Parisian Firefighters and began to paint portraits of them.
"A Fireman's Face": The large portraits stand for the moment in the back room of ‘the territory’, a space in Paris’s 14th district not far behind Montparnasse tower. The territory is also home to several other people involved in artistic works.
