The gull, 2021

Sergiy Alymov  

Some people gain insight through their own mistakes; others through the experiences of those around them.
Why The Gull?
Because the gull is a thief. It often survives by stealing food that belongs to others rather than finding its own.
The figures in the painting are connected, one way or another.
I see a woman returning from "the hunt" (her movement from right to left and her hunting-style hat suggest this), and the central figure—a man with a gull perched on his head. They seem to belong to the same narrative.
Perhaps the woman herself is the prototype of the bird that has "appropriated" the man's head, while his collar strangely resembles a toilet seat.
Is that good or bad?
How will this story end?
Perhaps in emotional dependence on a relationship.
Perhaps in personal growth and self-awareness.
Or perhaps the answer lies precisely in the collar.
The second pair consists of a man wearing a fool's cap,
pretending to be a clown, and a woman hiding behind
multicolored fragments of uncertainty.  
They observe the lives of others.
That, too, is a form of living.
And every one of these characters exists within us.
Both paths, both experiences, transform consciousness.