Flowers and wine by Leonid Afremov

As much as I feel that tube color paint has a negative impact on a paintings quality, I have to admire this artists ability with color. The aesthetic is very pleasing. It's interesting at how it walks the line between contemporary painting and classical. The thick texture painting is very contemporary, yet the colors and the subject is very classical. In a way this questions the separation between both schools of thought by allowing them to contrast eachother-that is at least what I get out of it.

It's a joy for the eye, to see the contrast of colors both similar and not. The strongest point I think is the contrast between warm and cool colors, and light verses dark. This I think gives the paintings its complex emotion. I truly respect the artists skill for accomplishing this painting. I especially respect that painting after painting the artists viewpoint is clear as day, and that you can pick out the artists work a mile away.

As far as my criticisms...I would be to encourage the artists to explore new colors and stray away from the tube colors. I would also encourage the artist to explore new subject matter and stray from the classical subjects. I fear the subject matter combined with the tube colors makes the painting fast(short lived), and also since each painting pretty much has the same colors as the next it might make them blend together too much. If the artist depends on their skill and on awe inspiring the audience with their use of color...after using the same colors over and over again the viewer I think will eventually get used to the similar scenes and not appreciate the artists accomplishment...add to this that the scenes are scenes that viewers have seen many times before and I fear it becomes problematic for the artist....

That said I really respect this artist skill and look forward to seeing more of their work in the future.