Sunday Drawing. From the Album 'Actors' 1996

Viktor Pivovarov made this drawing, seemingly with watercolor or gouache, as part of a series he called 'Actors'. There is a solitary figure, back turned to us, drawing at an easel in a room, and then this large, ghostly white figure lying prostrate on what appears to be a carpet. I am immediately drawn to the contrast between the smallness of the artist and the largeness of the supine form, and wonder about the relationship between them. Look at the way Pivovarov layers the colours. The pale greens of the wall are built up with subtle washes, and the red of the carpet creates a grounding effect. There’s a real stillness and intimacy to the scene – and I can imagine the artist deeply focused on his task. The sleeping, or perhaps dead, form is reminiscent of neoclassical sculpture – the kind of thing that haunts the history of painting. I wonder whether it has been rejected by the artist in favor of the still life arrangement by the window? Perhaps this composition speaks of the artist’s own vulnerabilities, his own mortality, and his need to create.