Swimmers

Zeinalov’s passion for ancient Greek sculpture was inspired by the Charioteer of Delphi, a famous bronze statue dating back to the 5th century BC. During his frequent visits to Moscow’s Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, where a plaster cast of the Charioteer is on display, Zeinalov came to think that the young man’s headband and hair reminded him of a swimming cap. Women wearing modern-day skin-tight caps while swimming in public pools sometimes have their locks escaping from under their caps in the same way as the Charioteer’s hair curls beneath the headband. This parallel was the inspiration behind Zeinalov’s swimmer.

Zeinalov’s Swimmers are mostly busts of men and women wearing swimming caps and goggles, made of plaster or bronze. The figures are often caught in the act of swimming; the head breaks the water surface for the swimmer to take a quick breath before submerging again. Some of these heads are more “streamlined” than others. “Right after breaking the surface, the head is covered with a thin layer of water, giving it a streamlined shape. I tried to achieve this effect in my plastic works,” said the sculptor.