Dmitry Akimov’s colourful paintings display a witty and intelligent response to the world of the erotic, using a variety of techniques and styles from poster-like simplicity to complex compositions with multiple elements. In his work done in the 1990s he was clearly influenced by Dali and Magritte, taking surrealism into the realm of sexual fantasy, but he was also a great experimenter, much of his output veering towards pop art, cartoon and graffiti.

From around 2010 Akimov’s work started to explore the borders between painting and photography, and his ‘Geen’ series, of which we include several at the end of this collection, show him moving between the two artforms, exploring the possibilities of including elements of both in a rich and complex narrative.