Sudack. Signs of the times 1983

Yuriy Khymych, sometime in the 20th century, captured this scene in Sudack, most likely with oil on canvas. It’s a landscape, but not really, because what dominates the scene is a building with a massive mural. The painting feels like a document, but the mural itself is so… strange. I mean, what’s that trident-wielding Neptune figure doing next to those socialist-realist athletes? What "signs of the times" is Khymych trying to show us here? Maybe he's telling us something about the collision of myth and ideology, or the way public art can be used to convey propaganda? The mountain range in the background, rendered in soft blues and browns, contrasts with the bold graphic style of the mural. You can almost imagine Khymych wrestling with the scene before him, trying to make sense of the visual cacophony. It feels like a puzzle, a jumble of symbols and styles. It reminds me of some of those Soviet-era mosaics, where artists were trying to create a new visual language for a new society. But Khymych seems to be questioning that language, pointing to its contradictions and absurdities.