Princess 1996

Vasiliy Ryabchenko made this installation, "Princess", and well, it's a vibe, right? Ryabchenko’s use of this low lighting and theatrical composition lends itself to a dreamy, symbolic world. It really speaks to the way he understood artmaking as a process of constructing something between reality and imagination. Look at how Ryabchenko brings together these different textures and forms. You've got the smooth darkness of the doorways, the heavy rolls of carpet under the bed, and then that rough, textured monolith with the light coming out from behind it like a divine presence. It all feels very physical, very present. And then that small bed with the cross above it, a person embracing themselves. What does it all mean? Well, what does anything mean? There's something of Balthus in the arrangement of this image, the combination of the perverse and the pious. Like Balthus, Ryabchenko embraces ambiguity, inviting multiple interpretations, while resisting any fixed meaning.