Naked Dream 1995

Vasiliy Ryabchenko made this black and white photograph, Naked Dream. It looks like a staged moment. It’s fascinating how the textures play against each other. The smooth skin of the figure, the rough weave of the basket on the head, the tactile quality of the grapes. I find myself focusing on the way the light catches the form of the body, creating soft highlights and shadows. It's a simple monochrome palette, but it amplifies the interplay of textures and forms. This photograph reminds me of a painting. Looking at that basket helmet is funny and odd. What does it mean to obscure the face like that? We start to think of other artists like Hannah Hoch and her Dadaist collages who also explored the relationship between the body, objects, and identity, in a world turned upside down. With art, things are never quite what they seem, and that’s the beauty of it.