Charles Darwin by Oleg Shuplyak

This painting depicts a scene in which a young woman in white is reading a book under a brick arch while a man in a black cloak creeps closely over her. The focal point of the painting is the woman on the bench, which is established by adding textures to and around the woman. In addition, the focal point is further emphasized by the lack of detail in the background. The brick arch separates the foreground and background are separated in that the objects staged before it are more detailed than those behind. After looking at the painting and possibly readjusting one’s perspective, the shapes in the background combine with the two people in the foreground to create an image of a face of an elderly man that is meant to be Charles Darwin. He manipulates space and shape in order to create the portrait of the man. The brick wall and curved line that it forms shapes the man’s head. The elements of the painting that initially appear insignificant form the necessary details of the man’s face. For example, the faded clouds in the distance that consist of vertical lines create wrinkles on the man’s forehead which adds texture to his face and overall resulting in a more complete optical illusion. In addition, the objects in the background, the house and the woman, initially appear to simply serve the purpose of adding depth to the painting; however due to the artists purposeful manipulation of shape and space, they serve a greater purpose in the portrait of the man.

Artist Oleg Shuplyak was born on September 23, 1967 in Ukraine. His initial artistic ambitions were all related to architecture; however, he soon came to realize that painting was his true passion. He began to study architecture at the Lviv Polytechnic Institute where he learned many architectural skills that have influenced his paintings and artwork in general ever since. Initially painting was a simple pass time of his in which he would hide famous faces inside of his paintings for onlookers to discover. However, the illusions that he created through these paintings enthralled his attention, resulting in a new career path. Because of his thorough study and knowledge of architecture, he has been effective in accomplishing his goal. He focuses on the positioning of images and minor objects in the dominant, landscape painting so that once it is complete the minor lines, coloring, and objects fit together to form a recognizable face. He utilizes this technique in all of his paintings, creating basically a landscape as well as a portrait painting all in one. Because of the hidden nature of the second aspect of all of his paintings, he is often regarded as an illusionist. His paintings range from containing blatantly obvious depictions of people to images that can long appear to not contain a portrait; however, they all do and once the face is scene by the viewer it becomes very difficult to disregard it. Shuplyak does this on purpose and it truly demonstrates the power that an artist can have over the perspective of the art viewer.

This painting appeals to me for numerous reasons. Initially I picked this painting because I found it interesting that Shuplyak combined a portrait of a man within the painting of the woman seated reading under the arch. However, as I began to look further I also enjoyed contemplating the scene of the woman and the man stalking above her. I was prompted to analyze the situation and it made me think of the image in a biblical sense. The woman in white seemed to be an angel while the man in black was a demon who was attempting to distract her. Although this may not have been Shuplyak’s intention, it appealed to me intellectually because I enjoyed drawing my own conclusion from the work before I was provided any certain context. I saw the portrait as an entirely separate painting that I also enjoyed analyzing because I found it interesting how I initially did not see it but once I shifted my perspective it became more clear. The image initially made me feel incompetent for not recognizing the portrait sooner; however once I did I felt as though I had discovered a hidden message that others may not have yet found. Because of this in the end I felt more enlightened than I had before viewing the painting, which was appealing to me. Overall I found the painting to not only be intellectually and emotionally stimulating but visually as well. I truly find the painting to be beautiful through its use of many different and vivid colors. I really like the style with which Shuplyak paints because is realistic yet slightly individualized.