"And the things I was painting
were not a fantasy, but reality…"

Vladimir Fomin

From Fomin's notes: For me, this island will always remain the same as it was then, when I traveled to Karelia for the first time. I was ready for a miracle. My soul lived in anticipation of a miracle. I could perceive the joy and tranquility waiting for me on the island.

Working on sketches for the series, Fomin studied the mysteries and secrets of the Kizhi architectural ensemble, and discovered that it survived thanks to a fortunate set of circumstances. For 180 years (from 1694 to 1874), the masterpieces of the island stood next to each other, changing their appearances and obediently subordinating themselves to the beauty of the 22-domed Transfiguration Cathedral. Perhaps the spirits of the architects who worked on the festive appearance of the island hovered above the ensemble and protected it from harm. After the completion of the island churches in the 18th century, a local merchant began the construction of a stone Cathedral of the Holy Trinity not far from the walls of the Intercession church. Fortunately, after his death the construction stopped. If it hadn't, the wonderful variety of fanciful wooden forms, so enchanting when viewed from various points of the island, would not exist today. In 1865, another project, to build a new church on the spot occupied by the Transfiguration Cathedral, also did not materialize. During the Second World War, providence saved the legendary buildings from Russian cannon fire and from the bombs of a Finnish pilot sent to destroy them.

The Transfiguration Cathedral was not among the first 12 paintings of the Kizhi series painted in 1996. Without it, Fomin considers the series incomplete and in the future plans to capture on canvas the magical perfection of the famous church. In the absence of the painting of the Transfiguration Cathedral, the key work of the series is the first picture, The Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus. This church is the oldest among all the buildings originally constructed on the island or brought from other places. The founder of the Murom monastery, Lazarus, a Byzantine monk, described in his Testament how he was sent to Novgorod and never went back to his native country. After nine years of life in one of the Novgorodian monasteries, he had a dream, in which the deceased bishop of Novgorod told him to go to Murom Island on Lake Onega and build a monastery there. Lazarus did not listen to the bishop's plea and his dream repeated itself. The same vision appeared to a Novgorodian boyar who owned Murom Island. Thus, a chain of miraculous visions brought Lazarus north. Many times during his journey he was in danger and almost drowned during a storm on Lake Onega. After his arrival on Murom Island he faced death again - from the hands of the island's inhabitants. The savage Saams and Chud (the ancestral tribes of today's Vepsa people) continued to kill each other, eat raw meat, and worship animals. They repeatedly attacked the monk, beat him up, and burned his hut. Each time, he rebuilt his dwelling and continued to proclaim to them the word of God. When, unable to persevere, he prayed to God for death, a simple miracle happened - he was asked to heal one of the pagans. As soon as Lazarus healed the son of the chief of the tribe from blindness, he was left in peace. Soon, other monks came to the island to help him build a monastery. Lazarus consecrated the church and called it the Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus, God's Friend.

Fomin painted the Church of the Resurrection of Lazarus twice. The fate of the Byzantine monk who brought Christianity to the pagans inspired the artist's thoughts about his own destiny.

From Fomin's notes: The pagans did not need Lazarus, but he did build a church in his own name. Why did he choose this name? Perhaps he believed that he would return after his death or because his faith had been restored. The church was burned and destroyed many times. And yet, it lived through it all, it survived. Although it was moved to Kizhi from the Murom monastery, one day it may return to its birthplace. The spirit of Lazarus will live as long as the church stands. It will live even under the cover of the tomb which conceals it. And that is also the destiny of my works. Both the Kizhi and the Vepsa series were born of the Karelian soil. They carry the spirit of the Russian North and my faith in art.

Fomin's Kizhi series is a colorful fantasy in the lubok style, which transforms the realistic images into the surreal and avant-garde through the lubok forms. The series is non-traditional, in contrast to "popular" realistic art, and many critics noticed its "non-traditional" nature.

From Fomin's notes: I do not have time or need to prove my right to a personal artistic vision. Art is born the same way as the Transfiguration Cathedral was born. Someone on the island went insane and decided to create beauty. He built a church with 22 cupolas. Art is born when something new, surprising, or divinely inspired happens. Kizhi is something inimitable and because of that - always new. Don't believe those who say that a church needs to be brown, the stones gray, and the painting created according to set rules.

Fomin's fantasies on the theme of the Resurrection of Lazarus were reflected in one more small work, Under the Pine Tree. The artist's brush turned the tree in the painting into a symbol.

From Fomin's notes: Under the Pine Tree is a fantasy on the theme of an island-man. I imagined a monk who came to the island inhabited by a pagan tribe. The forest for me was always a symbol of paganism. I painted the pine tree as a generalized symbol of the forest. In its crown are coniferous and deciduous branches. The tree covers the world of Kizhi. It is the Great Guardian. It hovers like paganism over Christianity. It is everywhere. It is present unseen in our life and from the beginning takes part in the forming of our conscience. It surrounds us and lives in us. We are all pagans with crosses on our chests. But the tree also represents man. It signifies the eternal quarrel of man with himself, with his loneliness in the enormously large world, in which he cannot be lonely… The tiny island Under the Pine