"The Artist's Corner..."

"When All Sound Subsided"

Oil on canvas

Igor Sychev 

What I Like About This: Igor Sychev is a Russian artist whose art focuses on the beauty of the male form as almost a protest against the prudish norms of the western world.  His nudes are generally tasteful and well executed and often feature intriguing subject matter. I found this work to be interesting and it caught my eye because of it's unusual scale, perspective and dimensions.  The artist's choice of a short wide canvas is interesting, but even more so is the scale of the model to the musical  instruments... If one were to assume that the piano is even a full sized grand, using that as the dimensional scale would mean the model could at best be perhaps only 5 feet tall. The saxophone, is also a bit out of proportion as well and these types of details are things that I discover as I seek to appreciate an artist message in his work.  Moreover, the nudity is tasteful and an air of modesty is evident in the strategic use of light to create shadow.  So, in the end, my conclusion was that I liked this painting... it made me wonder and think about that artist's goal in creating it, and that is the hallmark of all good art.