Samovar 2000

Viktor Lyapkalo’s oil painting shows two figures in a domestic interior; the palette is muted, fleshy, and punctuated with moments of pure pigment. I can imagine Lyapkalo building this image slowly, feeling his way through those brushstrokes, correcting and adjusting, letting the painting declare itself over time. I wonder, was the artist thinking about Rubens, or maybe some of the more contemporary figurative painters like Lucian Freud, when he made this? Maybe he was just thinking about how to get the job done! I am drawn to how this image holds so much psychological charge in such an unidealized moment. See how the light seems to pour in from that window, illuminating their bodies, but also revealing their vulnerability? The man’s expression is caught somewhere between labor and desire, as he strains under the weight of his lover. I feel like artists are always talking to each other, even across centuries. This painting is part of that ongoing conversation, using the language of paint to explore the messy, complicated experience of being human. It’s a reminder that painting is never just about what you see, but about how you feel.