There's something seriously wrong with this picture.
But more on that below.
(A lazy translation of a post from my Telegram channel.)
Initially, this was supposed to be a short post about some of the characteristics of images featuring liminal pools that I noticed while working with references for my latest piece. However, it turned out to be a much more general issue in the context of my artwork, and the post quickly grew into a long one.
But first, a word about pools. A characteristic of classic (and, in my opinion, the best) images of this kind is the lack of proper water physics. Specifically, reflections are limited to the brightest areas, and caustics (glare from waves) are completely or almost completely absent. Meanwhile, examples where the artist overdoes the realistic rendering of the water look worse because they have too much visual noise. It's precisely the "purity" of the image that enhances the sense of liminality through the absence of unnecessary details and a cozy (or uncozy, depending on the taste) emptiness.
And I also use this same technique, both consciously and subtly. I won't lie, the main reason for this was laziness, and only then the desire to convey a specific image. It was quite a surprise to me that people recognized my art as something familiar: like the streets of their city, the entrances of their buildings, because in reality, I don't draw spaces that make any sense. There are no roads or trees on the streets. The buildings have no loggias or balconies. There are no entrances leading inside, and inside, there are no wiring, peeling paint, or graffiti. On art with Moonwatcher in the panelka, there isn't even a ceiling! The "bathrooms" have only tiles: no pipes, no faucets, no plumbing. None of this exists. No one lives or ever lived in these houses. These bathrooms are unusable. Even this bus, although drawn much closer to the reference, doesn't go anywhere, because outside the window there is only snow-covered tundra and abandoned houses.
Everything I depict is fake. My art doesn't reflect reality, only a dream or a memory of it.
But, as it turns out, this is enough to deceive the viewer.
The picture above is a prime example of this, because I intentionally depicted something completely impossible in reality, something that a significant portion of those who saw the art simply didn't notice.
Of course, I'm talking about the meters. There are three of them, and there are only two apartments on the floor! The horror!
Just kidding. I'm talking, of course, about the window, which can't be on that wall, because there are apartments behind it, not a street. (And a little about the meters.)
Actually, it's all a lie. In fact, I live in an abandoned, liminal workers' settlement beyond the Arctic Circle. My only neighbors are a tall, white cryptid and a host of small black birds, and all my art is drawn from life.
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