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Vladimir Shir
FRANCE
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“I create from wounds that transform into visions of light.”
Vladimir Shir, born in June 1984 in the Soviet Union, is a passionate and self-taught artist whose journey has been shaped by extraordinary experiences and a relentless drive to create. His restless nature led him to drop out of art school three times and abandon studies in medicine and biochemistry, as he struggled to balance multiple commitments. Despite these setbacks, his intellectual abilities shone through as he graduated with honors in psychology, economics, law, and mechanical engineering. His life path has been as multifaceted as his artistic practice, spanning roles as professor, author, media artist, poet, and expert in mysticism.
In exile | Oil
NA
20 X 16
This is my first oil painting in my life. These are actually the very first strokes. Initially, the idea was to depict the Potter at work, but I was so immersed in the process that I only remembered about it when the painting was already finished.
The plot is inspired by the Farmers' Revolt - a sudden shock in France in January 2024. It was true persecution of farmers, who eventually defended their rights thanks to the ardent support of the people.
For several years, while working as a freelance psychoanalyst, Shir established a twenty-four-hour hotline to support women and children affected by violent crimes. This direct engagement with human trauma profoundly influenced his creative voice. In parallel, he pursued his passion for art through jewelry, sculpture, and metalwork, infusing his pieces with insights from psychology and lived experience. His exploration extended into wave genetics, geometry, and chemistry, while fieldwork in geology and a fascination with ancient art gave his imagination historical depth.
Good Friday | Acrylic
NA
20 X 16
The plot of "Good Friday" was created on the eve of Christmas 2023 and is associated with the beginning of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October 2023. Because of the incident, many Jews were forced to temporarily leave their native lands. Memories from childhood suddenly surfaced in my memory. Heartfelt stories of my grandfather, who was captured near Ukraine in 1941 and sent to the German concentration camp Baranovichi, where he stayed almost until the end of the war.
From an early age, Shir received an unconventional and profound education. Mentored by elderly teachers in history, chemistry, and biology, he gained knowledge steeped in traditions and wisdom that lay outside the confines of conventional schooling. Dissatisfied with traditional classrooms, he immersed himself in forbidden scientific literature and sought out knowledge independently. This early thirst for understanding shaped his path as both a thinker and creator, building the intellectual foundation for the complexity of his later artworks.
“Each color sings to me, carrying echoes of eternity.”
His academic trajectory was as unconventional as his childhood. After multiple school changes, he joined the International Gymnasium of the Red Cross Society, a small program for gifted children. Even there, his rebellious temperament led to frequent fights and eventual expulsion. At the same time, he enrolled as an external student in a medical institute, completing two full courses while spending nights in morgues and anatomical museums. Though life circumstances prevented him from pursuing medicine, he earned a state certificate that allowed him to enter any university without entrance exams, automatically securing top scores in sciences, literature, and history.
Seeing is Believing | Oil
NA
16 X 12
This is a spontaneous idea, inspired by an outburst of pent-up emotions. Sometimes I'm not a very socially open person, especially when it comes to mass manipulation of people. I have noticed too much propaganda and fake information in the media in recent years. Of course, it saddens me that the vast majority of people believe everything they hear or see in open sources, and, without using any critical thinking of their own, spread false news within their own circles.
A contemporary Ophelia where the river is both grave and mirror. Wildflowers and drifting light gather around the figure, turning silence into a meditation on memory, tenderness, and the thin line between love and oblivion. Her face, serene yet sorrowful, hovers between presence and absence, as water enfolds her body in a fragile embrace.
Ophelia (Echoes of Love Long Lost) – Left Panel | Oil on Canvas, Diptych
NA
12 X 16
In Russia, Shir achieved early success as an artist and advisor, drawing the attention of influential figures across Europe and Asia. His works entered private collections, and his insights were sought by leaders in different fields. However, with recognition came danger. He was abducted multiple times and survived repeated attempts on his life. During one prolonged captivity in a basement lasting nineteen months, where he endured torture and deprivation, he experienced a divine vision. Archangel Michael appeared to him and took him to God. Returning to his body with new knowledge, Shir managed to escape during a shootout and fire among his captors.
“My work emerges from exile, vision, and survival, turning suffering into creation, where colors become sound and every gesture carries both memory and revelation.”
“Art for me is not a profession but a sacred act of survival. I create because silence would erase me, and each wound I carry insists on becoming a vision. My path through exile, captivity, and encounters with death has given me a perception that is both burden and gift. I no longer see color as mere surface. Each hue vibrates as sound, as part of a symphony that connects what is visible with what lies beyond. When I paint or sculpt, I am listening to these vibrations and giving them form. Contrasts are central to my work because I believe light and shadow, love and despair, destruction and renewal cannot exist apart. My brushstrokes are living traces of these contradictions, carrying tenderness, pain, and resilience in equal measure. Every painting is more than an image. It is an offering, a gesture of remembrance, and an act of care for humanity. If my art reaches others, I hope it reminds them that beauty can be born from suffering, and that truth often reveals itself only through struggle.”
For years afterward, he lived under a false identity in Moscow, continuing to create while remaining in hiding. Another failed abduction forced him to distribute his possessions, burn much of his work, and flee. After escaping by jumping from a train near a Lithuanian village, he lived in Poland, Italy, Sri Lanka, and Austria before unexpectedly settling in France. In 2020, after a profound conversation with God on the nature of gray color, he experienced a resurgence of creative energy. Sculptures made of stone emerged even from his kitchen, fueling his desire to find new ways of expression despite the limitations of exile.
Ophelia (Echoes of Love Long Lost) – Right Panel | Oil on Canvas, Diptych
NA
12 X 16
A contemporary Ophelia where the river is both grave and mirror. Blossoms scatter across a dreamlike current, catching fragments of shadow and light. The drifting water transforms tragedy into reflection, where loss softens into beauty and remembrance lingers in the glow of evening.
In 2022, he returned to art with renewed urgency. First picking up children’s pencils, then brushes and acrylics, and eventually oil and canvas in 2024, he began working day and night, creating without pause. His artistic process became both instinctive and deliberate, driven by visions and guided by color. After his encounters with the divine and experiences with death, his perception of the world transformed. He no longer saw only forms and hues but experienced each color as sound, each stroke as vibration. Listening to the symphonies of life from other dimensions, he translated them into works that sing with transcendental resonance.
DIA LOG (Sacred Discordia) – Full Diptych View | Oil on Canvas, Diptych
NA
16 X 12
A symbolic dialogue between rejection and acceptance. Archetypal figures of light and shadow meet at the threshold between body and spirit, asking how power, gender, and faith shape belonging. On one side, a fallen form spirals into fire, embodying negation and exile. On the other, a figure of transcendence rises with a heart exposed, embodying grace and inclusion. Together, the diptych does not resolve the tension but holds it open, inviting reflection on the polarities that define human experience.
Shir’s practice bridges painting, sculpture, and psychological insight. He often creates diptychs, where opposites confront and illuminate one another. In DIA LOG (Sacred Discordia), Lucifer falls in flame while Christ radiates transcendence, embodying a dialogue between acceptance and refusal, illumination and shadow. In Ophelia (Echoes of Love Long Lost), Shakespeare’s heroine becomes an allegory of cosmic silence, merging the personal with the universal. His paintings are layered with vibrating colors and deliberate contrasts, where love, despair, and catharsis coexist in the same brushstroke.
I've been planning to write this story for three years. But there was a lot of stress due to the problems faced by any immigrant living illegally in France. This gave me peace of mind and titanic strength for creativity. I create every day, filling my work with love and optimism. By the way, that same red cat appeared on the canvas again. Apparently this is some kind of lucky sign from above. The picture was created with such ease and peace that I feel like a bird soaring in the sky.
Pacification | Oil
NA
16 X 12
“Opposites in my art reveal hidden unity and truth.”
Seven Seals of the Apocalypse | Oil
NA
20 X 16
The painting Seven Seals of the Apocalypse depicts the Virgin Mary and seven angels, radiating with divine aura and beauty.
The feminine voice occupies an essential place in his work, intertwined with explorations of power, vulnerability, and consciousness beyond the human realm. His career as a psychotherapist, particularly his dedication to supporting women and children, infuses his practice with empathy and a sense of moral responsibility. For Shir, each painting is not only an image but a gesture of care, remembrance, and resistance against oblivion. His devotion to art is inseparable from his devotion to humanity.
The painting God's Sister features the Virgin Mary with a labyrinth, symbolizing a journey through darkness and light. Hidden within the artwork is hexadecimal text in ASCII programming language, which, when translated from Latin, reads: Sister of God is the primordial Darkness. Light will show you the right path, and darkness will remove obstacles on your way! The inscription is attributed to the Archangel Gabriel. The Latin original of the text is: Soror Dei - Tenebrae primaevae. Lumen tibi monstrat directum, Tenebrae obstacula viae Tuae removent! ab Archangelo Gabriel.
God's Sister | Oil
NA
2 X 1
Since 2024, Shir’s works have been exhibited internationally across Austria, Hungary, France, and the United States. He has received over twenty international recognitions and awards and is a member of Association des Artistes Autunois, Association La Passerelle in Autun, and Visual Arts Scotland. Alongside his exhibitions, he volunteers in the French art community and supports cultural initiatives through philanthropy. Collectors from around the world seek his works in person, drawn to their authenticity and uncompromising energy. For Shir, art is not a profession but survival and sacred duty. He paints and sculpts day and night, bearing both wound and vision, and shares them with the world as testimony to resilience, exile, and the eternal search for beauty and truth.
Morning at the Estate | Oil on Canvas
NA
2 X 1
Charolais cows at dawn beside a Burgundy manor. Painted alla prima from life, the canvas captures the fresh light of morning as it moves across pasture, stone, and sky. The gentle presence of the herd infuses the scene with pastoral calm, while the immediacy of the brushwork conveys a quiet sense of renewal and the enduring bond between nature and place.
“Art is my survival, my devotion, and my testimony.”
Vladimir Shir
@he_art_119
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