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Svyatoslav
Ryabkin
NEXT Event → Christmas 2023
"The poetry in colour that is done in unpredictable textured style of painting"
The sea and sun
The journey towards hope
"In the quiet sea full of calm and light some sailboats are moving slowly to bring on board people far away the bad luck and their everyday life troubles", with these words the artist Svyatoslav Ryabkin describes the painting The sea and sun (100x75cm), a masterpiece made in 2012.
In this big painting there is an explosion of color and brightness: the picture is almost completely yellow. However this color is ambivalent.
Light tones represent intellect, intuition, faith and goodness in fact, according to the author, the passengers are important and ambitious people. They do praiseworthy activities and go towards a better world.
In my opinion dark yellow tones represent their sadness. Dear Readers, could you interpret this picture with this feeling? A lot of migrants have come to my mind, they are coming to Italy after exhausting sea crossings. Unfortunately only some of them are arriving safe and sound. They are very lucky if come with their families but their life will be full of sacrifices and uncertainty. This instability refers to the sway of the boat on the sea surface.
This situation has made worse since 2000 and the number of shipwrecks of migrants has shot upespecially since 2010. Therefore, courage and adaptability are key elements to survive. So "The sea and sun" has a double message of hope and despair. Do you think about these thoughts like me? Send us your comments!
The image reminds of the exhibition "Cutouts of sky, cutouts of sea" by Maria Capellini too that it has just ended at the Galata Sea Museum in Genova. The italian artist used poor sea materials that she has assembled in her sculptures and paintings. She has transformed these elements of the marine world into symbols of the contemporary society. Great!
The waves of the sea, illuminated by the sun, are a little bit blue. Their movement is calm and circular, especially in the lower half of the painting. The large white sail is blinding and it is in the middle of the canvas so, it captures the viewer's attention immediately. This topic reminded me of Santiago, the main character of the famous novel "The old man and the sea" by Ernest Hemingway. His adventure at sea with and against a swordfish is extraordinary and it represents the human condition in a natural fight to survive in which nobody comes out victorious.
Last but not least, the sparkling golden reflection reminded me of "Sunset" by Natalia Goloviznina. She is a contemporary and very talented Russian painter and her work is an Impressionist picture. She made the same subject (a boat at the sunset) but his environment is on fire. In fact she used the orange colour a lot and it heats the whole canvas: the sail is red and the sea reflects this warmth too. However both of pictures convey the same sense of calm for the calm waves. If Svyatoslav met Natalia, he said she represented the same topic a few hours later, at the dusk, for the strongest colours and thecontrasts of orange/red and purple/blue, when the big sail goes away from the viewer and becomes smaller in the sea.
In the warm sunset the sail reminded me of the 10 best places to watch the sunset because, you know, a beautiful sunset allures our senses and stop the time! What is your favorite among them? Please shout them out!
By Elena Sechet
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