Fine art expert / Nesvetailo Tatiana

Aleko, “despising the shackles of modernity”, is captured by the vortex of the gypsies’ lifestyle. One can’t help comparing this work with Philip Malyavin’s The Whirlwind. But if Malyavin’s work depicts the mighty element of people’s life, being a hymn for liberty and emancipation of feeling, here we can see burning passion that paralyses the hero. Composition expands diagonally inwards, leading us to the source of light that remains invisible though its highlights are reflecting on characters’ faces and clothes. The painter creates rather tense pictorial fabric using the widest range of red tinges and bringing in daring contrasts. Dynamic pastose manner of painting intensifies the sense of inner conflict. The author was able not only to create a highly professional work but to offer an unusual and very subtle interpretation of the well-known plot.

The paining by Maria Pavlova, Apple Tree, undoubtedly being the result of her communications with nature, captures the enthusiasm for the visual environment, sheer rapture of contact with it. The apple tree branch in full blossom with its intricate arabesque-like pattern is the main part of composition. All the rest - white vase, a shade attuned to the branch etc., dissolves in the idea of blossoming. Light, bright and ringing coloring that the artist uses so skillfully, creates the impression of fest and animation. Such a masterly painting combined with the natural energy it emanates could tone up the space of any interior where it would be placed.

Personified image of Spring is not uncommon subject in the history of world art. But here the author interprets it in quite an unexpected way. Symbolic composition fascinates, inviting a spectator for reflection. The center of the painting as well as its semantic dominant presents as the sheet covered with writings, hiding the face of yet sleeping Spring. Could this be a message with codified program for eternal renovation and self-revival of Nature? Vertical format adds to the composition some dynamics and a tendency for moving upward. Rhythm of dry stem verticals piercing through the flame-colored pyramid of hair serves the same impression. The painting’s space is organized as a combination of two points of view (straight and from above), and the portrayal of inanimate nature as concealing a vital force almost physically sensed by a spectator allows the author to reproduce the ambivalence of the world.