Head 2008

Oleh Denysenko created this head with an unknown medium and date, featuring a mustachioed man with piercing blue eyes. The man's mustachios are striking. Like tendrils, they evoke ancient depictions of power and virility, echoing the stylized beards of Assyrian kings, symbols of authority and dominance carved into stone. This symbol resonates across time, appearing even in 19th-century portraits of European monarchs. But note how here, they have been somewhat deflated. Does Denysenko seek to revive the archetype, or to question and subvert it? The cracked surface lends the image a quality of age and fragility, as if it were a relic unearthed from a forgotten time. Symbols, you see, are never fixed. They traverse history, accumulating layers of meaning, always in flux.