Information about the work
The artist speaks of this dual dimension of reality in a metaphorical form in his work Black Puppy [Chorne tsutsenya] (canvas, oil, 1989; entered the collection of the Sumy Regional Art Museum in 1990). Before us is a small figure of a child, rendered in a conventionally primitive manner. This is a full-length depiction of a three-to-five-year-old boy with large round eyes, holding a black puppy. The composition is frontal and static: the character stands upright, his joined hands evoking a sense of closedness, inner concentration, or even anxiety. The boy is dressed in the costume of Harlequin—a character from commedia dell’arte, a type of Italian popular street theater that originated in the mid-16th century. The figure resembles a theatrical or puppet character. He wears broad knee-length trousers and stockings, a tall pointed paper cap on his head, and white ruffles on his collar around his neck. Tucked inside his garment, he holds a puppy.
The color scheme is subdued, dominated by dark, muted shades of brown, black, and gray. The lighting is localized, focused on the face. The sole accent is a reddish element of clothing, which draws attention and adds drama to the image. A black outline around the figure successfully separates him from the dark background of the canvas. The center of psychological tension is the boy’s face, split in half by chiaroscuro. Its left side is painted in brown, heightening the effect of dual perception, where the inner world is juxtaposed with the external one. The figure is isolated against a dark, almost neutral background, creating an atmosphere of intimacy and chamber-like privacy. The absence of spatial details amplifies the feeling of solitude and estrangement.
The work leans toward Naive art, yet possesses a psychological subtext filled with emotional tension and a somewhat anxious atmosphere. The generalized forms, the disproportionate figure (a large head, a small body), and the simplified modeling all work to enhance the expressiveness of the image, which can be interpreted as a metaphor testifying to human vulnerability and childhood solitude. At the same time, the influence of the Expressionist tradition is palpable. The deliberately chosen theatricality of the image demands an answer to the question: who are we truly beyond the “costume”? The artist constructed a personalized space inhabited by small characters with their own inner feelings. The children inside the paintings are constantly dressing up and staging plays, unaware that they are those very charming actors and marionettes who have settled forever in the artist’s own world.