Explosion (right) 1989

Eugene Brodsky created this oil on paper work, titled "Explosion (right)", the date of which is unknown. Brodsky was born in 1946, just after the end of the Second World War, and raised in the Soviet Union. His experience of growing up under the shadow of the Cold War may have influenced his artistic sensibilities. The blocky, almost architectural forms, seem to suggest a landscape rendered abstract. In Brodsky's work, there's an emotional tension between the desire for structure and the underlying chaos that threatens to erupt. The title "Explosion" hints at this potential energy, as if the tightly contained forms are on the verge of disintegration. The palette of muted greens and browns adds to the somber mood of a world in flux. It is as if the architecture is about to be wiped away, leaving only empty space. The work prompts us to consider the relationship between stability and change, between order and chaos, both in the world around us and within ourselves.