Sunday Drawing. From the Album 'Actors' 1996

Viktor Pivovarov’s ‘Sunday Drawing’ from the ‘Actors’ album uses an unassuming palette, and simple lines to depict a scene filled with quiet artistic contemplation. The way the objects are rendered, with a sort of humble directness, makes me think about how artmaking is a process of getting to know the world. There’s a stillness to the picture, but also a weirdness in the contrast between the guy at the easel and the figurative sculpture on the floor, which is almost comically collapsed. The sculpture is an interesting formal juxtaposition, the way it leans on its side and is cropped by the frame, its smooth surface reflecting the light. I love how the scene feels both interior and exterior at once, with the open window connecting the room to the outside world. Pivovarov’s work makes me think of Balthus in the way that it captures these strangely self-contained moments, where the relationship between reality and representation is always a little bit off. Maybe it's a meditation on the act of creation, and the way that making art is always an act of translation, a way of mediating between the inner and outer worlds.