Last week I wandered into the Brunswick Street Gallery as I do from time to time and was particularly drawn to Larissa Rogacheva's colourful and somewhat dream-like paintings (mostly watercolours). I suppose you just never know - while the general colour palette and
mood are certainly well in my strike zone, overall I wouldn't have said
it was especially the 'type' (or any of the types) of thing that I
usually especially like. And yet I did especially like many of
these, especially those with a mythological dimension, which included my
two favourites, "The Fox" and "The Trojan dream #5" (alternately titled
"Helen of Troy" on her website).
In fact, so much did I like them that I bought the Trojan dream to hang in my room. If anything, I thought "The Fox" was even better, but I suspect the Trojan - which also happens to be larger at a 60 cm diameter - will be a better choice for looking at day in, day out. Looking at it now (I picked it up today), I can more readily disentangle the entwined threads that drew me to it; in addition to the colours and general atmosphere of delicate dreaminess, there's a pop drift which is a touch Sandman-esque coexisting with a dash of the type of surrealism that takes its markers from de Chirico and his classical Greek and Italianate reference points (including, of course, the mythological), and put like that, there's little wonder it struck me so, taken, of course, with all of the work's own essential qualities in itself!
In fact, so much did I like them that I bought the Trojan dream to hang in my room. If anything, I thought "The Fox" was even better, but I suspect the Trojan - which also happens to be larger at a 60 cm diameter - will be a better choice for looking at day in, day out. Looking at it now (I picked it up today), I can more readily disentangle the entwined threads that drew me to it; in addition to the colours and general atmosphere of delicate dreaminess, there's a pop drift which is a touch Sandman-esque coexisting with a dash of the type of surrealism that takes its markers from de Chirico and his classical Greek and Italianate reference points (including, of course, the mythological), and put like that, there's little wonder it struck me so, taken, of course, with all of the work's own essential qualities in itself!
