Richard Emil Miller 2017

Andrey Allakhverdov painted Richard Emil Miller with oil on canvas in a way that feels both historical and contemporary. Look at the textures and colors that are playing together. The artist here is unafraid of greens and reds, which in painting school you're often told to avoid putting right next to each other. I love that Allakhverdov doesn't shy away from it. I wonder what he was thinking when he was making the painting. There's the figure in the background holding flowers, but the portrait in the foreground seems to me the real subject. The gaze is intense, and the pipe gives the figure a real authority. I see influences from other artists, maybe someone like David Hockney, but with a Russian sensibility. Painting is like one long conversation artists have across time. We are all constantly responding to each other! I think the artist created a space of inquiry, embracing uncertainty to explore ambiguity. It's pretty great.