Seafood at the Opera 2008

Dmytro Kavsan made this painting, Seafood at the Opera, without a specified date, using what looks like oils on canvas. The colours are rich and deep, like you’re peering into a dream. The juxtaposition of the operatic interior with a seafood display is so strange, so jarring, yet so compelling. I love the way the light catches on the chandeliers and reflects off the shiny shells and glistening seafood. See how Kavsan uses thick, impasto strokes for the seafood, giving it a tactile, almost sculptural quality? And then, those delicate, whimsical fairies flitting about, adding a touch of magic to the scene. It’s like a Baroque still life, but with a surreal twist. You can see influences from artists like Giorgio de Chirico in the dreamlike, uncanny atmosphere, or maybe even a nod to the theatricality of Caravaggio. This is a painting that stays with you, inviting endless interpretation.