Shupliac- Oleg Shuplyak
When I was looking through photos trying to decide on what piece I would use for this essay I stumbled across Shupliac, and it made me do a double take to say the least. Oleg Shuplyak is a Ukrainian painter known for his illusion work; commonly featuring allusions to other art and famous personalities his work is extremely eye catching. The piece I was especially drawn to is an oil painting names Shupliac as before mentioned. This piece demonstrates multiple elements to creation, it tells a very in depth story and is through and through beautiful. This painting is very pleasing for me because it is almost two different pieces combined into one. When looking at Shupliac I am reminded of the old expression “every person has two sides” because of how the painting could be viewed as two people sitting together near a lake, but it could also be viewed as one large abstracted face with a somber expression. Personally the atmosphere depicted reminds me of driving to school early in the morning when there is mist out over the lake and fields near my house. Driving to school tends to give me a really anxious feeling, especially if I am nervous about something so this painting has a component that puts me on edge as well as put me at peace. Now I do not particularly love waking up and driving to school in the morning, and even though there is a gut wrenching feeling to it, seeing the mist out always puts me at peace and that is why this is so calming to look at for me. I was so reminded of mist because of the background. Across the lake there is a storm brewing and the clouds hanging overhead cast a gray hue to the rest of the painting. As far as colors go they are all very tame, even the green of the grass is not as vibrant as you would expect when set against a mostly gray background. The two people in the middle of the painting are the first things I noticed and would say are the focal point because their white outfits are eye catching, and their location in the center causes all the other elements to work around them. Oleg might choose to draw the onlookers eyes to the people so we focus in and notice the paintings second perspective. The lady who is further back is sitting on a rock with a red flower and her long brown hair and is hunched over a bit; her body forms the nose of the abstracted man’s face and the rock she is sitting on has a reflection in the lake to form the man’s mouth. The man with a tan straw hat on who is playing the flute in the foreground helps to form the rest of the face because the angle of his body shows the abstracted man’s jaw and his head is another eye. The tree branches hanging above form the top of the abstracted man’s head. The optical allusion of the people and their surroundings forming a face generally steals the show, but Shuplyak included many hidden faces like the withered face of the tree trunk to the left. There are so many layers to the painting it leads me to believe the artist had to continuously add on to the painting starting from the background and working his way forward. By working in layers Shuplyak demonstrated amazing positioning, which was necessary in order to add the depth the piece needed so he could accomplish the allusion. Shuplyak’s work loves featuring people and focusing on adding different human elements to his work, so I assume he is influenced by people around him and the circumstances he finds them in. The impact this could have on society is changing the way we view things by delivering the message that we need to truly look at people because they are not all all we see at first glance. People and situations are always so much more diverse and complicated than we like to think they are, so when we are forced to change our perspective and see what may physically be the same things as something completely different, and I think it challenges a lot us. I believe that Oleg Shuplyak likes to try and force that challenge on us through his paintings even if it is in a small way. When making us face this challenge Shuplyak makes us acknowledge the two sides to the story and tells us we cannot always look at things the same way. I cannot stress how important changing your perspective is in relationships, so I think that may also be partially responsible for his common use of people, and leads me to think about what relationship the two characters in the painting have. I could of course be wrong, but when I saw the man and the woman I assumed a romantic relationship between them, and one that was not going well. I would title this painting “Not us Anymore” because of how they are not together in the painting, and I like to think that there was some outside force that changed their relationship because of the stormy atmosphere surrounding them. As far as symbols go there are lots of things that confuse me. I do not understand why the man is playing a flute, for all I know he is just playing it for fun, but if I had to make a guess it would be he is playing for comfort. If I was right and him and the woman are going through a challenging transition in their relationship then music is just something consistent and calming to hold on to. Shuplyak may have his own reasons for why the people represent the body parts they do, but from my perspective it was just clever. The face in the tree is an oddity to me because it does not match the style to which he normally creates hidden faces, but as the tree has a very well aged face it could relate back to the people’s withering relationship once more. The serene atmosphere and calming colors helped to make a very aesthetically pleasing painting, not to mention how everything was so well balanced and fit together like a puzzle. Nothing seemed out of place in this piece, and everything was so skillfully brought together that it was very enjoyable to see how it all worked. The theme to the painting was very clever and subtle, but not so desperately hidden as to confuse the viewer; which factors into the theme in a lovely way. Shuplyak’s painting told of how you need to dig deep when looking for answers so just blatantly displaying the theme would have been hypocritical. When addressing his theme it was definitely a social issue, so its importance depends on the scenario to which it is applied. Getting to further explore this piece was amazing for me because I just enjoy looking at things from a new perspective. I am a bit odd, but I like thinking about how the world is so vast and that we cannot all see the same things the same way. From a technical standpoint Shuplyak amazed me with his mastery in painting, and from an emotional standpoint I am blown away with the story this piece told. There are so many elements and so many ways to think about this painting that it is a little chaotic to try and all digest, but when you come to a conclusion it is definitely worth it. It was beautiful painting to begin with but now I view it and see not just see a pretty painting but a story.
3 Comments
s. whitney
10/18/2017 01:07:20 pm
As always, I enjoy reading your insights into different pieces.
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Jenalyn
11/20/2022 04:26:54 am
Who the author of this painting
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Jenalyn valiente
11/20/2022 05:12:08 am
What is the deacription this artwork
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