After retiring in 1994, Bartsev began to travel by bicycle. He traveled all over the country, and then became interested in painting. The artist defined his mission as an attempt to preserve the culture of his own people, the Mari people. In his paintings, he talks about traditional beliefs and way of life, recreates scenes well known to him from early childhood from the life of the Mari village.

 
In his painting ‘Silent Witnesses’ Echick Bartsev depicted a winter landscape. Almost the entire pictorial space is occupied by mountain ranges. Their overwhelming size is emphasized by the pine trees perched on the top and the bright blue sky that is gradually getting darker.

 
At the very bottom of the picture, you can see a line of people: an elderly hunter who makes a ski trail, a mother, and two children with luggage.

 
In Echik Bartsev’s painting, the silent witnesses are not the rocks as such, but the silhouettes of bears, the faces of strange creatures, the muzzles of moose and monkeys. The author invites the viewer to make his or her own decision who looks at the people walking below: whether these are ancient writing — rock art created there many years ago — or nature itself –or a simple play of shadows and optical distortions.