Information about the work
The work Model in an Interior [Model v Interyeri] (canvas, oil, 1990; acquired by the Sumy Regional Art Museum in 1991) exhibits a pronounced decorative and expressive character, leaning toward a conventionally figurative, almost abstract composition with elements of an interior still life. Set against the ocher background of a horizontal band, a nude man stands out, depicted with his back to the viewer. Executed on a large-format canvas with broad brushstrokes, the work displays a soft, blurred, slightly raw manner. The screen-like lighting and the nude male figure contrast with the dark patches surrounding them and at the corners of the canvas. The composition is structured horizontally, with a clear division into planes. The central area is dense with forms reminiscent of interior items: the silhouette of a sofa or bed, a frame resembling a television screen, and barely perceptible human figures. The left section is balanced by a light patch suggesting a vase with flowers, creating a visual accent and a entry point into the composition.
The author leaves unpainted space around the main subject to focus on the essential elements and grant additional breathing room to the work. These bare canvas areas also generate a noise effect that prevents the viewer from immediately penetrating the center of events, forcing them to contemplate the artist’s illusions. The piece leans toward Expressionism with elements of decorative painting. Emotion, rhythm, and color relationships take precedence over literal precision. Space is conventional and simplified, conveyed through overlapping color planes. The impasto painting is textured and tactile. Broad, generalized, sometimes raw brushstrokes heighten its expressiveness. The materiality of objects recedes, yielding to the emotional impact of color and rhythm. A warm red-orange palette dominates, creating an emotionally charged, dramatic, and anxious mood. Black and dark brown patches act as contrasting accents that enhance depth and rhythm, while light inclusions (white, yellowish) add dynamics and breath. The generalized forms leave ample space for viewer interpretation.
In this interior scene, the human presence acts as a metaphorical space of memory-experience. The classical motif is completely disrupted: the model in the interior is present, and space exists, yet everything appears like a stage where no one feels grounded in a concrete environment. It is a matrix of presence, a television projection where everything happening to us does not exist in the material world. It is an emotionally saturated, decoratively generalized composition that establishes an atmosphere of inner experience, leaving the image open to individual interpretation.