Response

When I first saw this painting, I wasn't connecting the pieces/geometric features with the facial features, partly because I didn't understand the title which is originally in Russian, and partly because all the previous work I was looking are objects. And when I started to understand it as a face, many ways of interpretation come to my mind. The black square might be the hair but it can also be a hat. The blue trapezoid might be the neck but it can also be collars. The ring can be the eye but it can also be the mouth. When I saw the one upside down, the imagination gets more complex. The comparison between the two ways of display redirects me to the facial expression from the overall paining instead of the individual shapes on it. The first one seems to be calmer and the portrait seems to be nodding and thinking while the second one seems to be more up-lifting - surprised and talking loudly. The last thing that resonates with me is unexpectedly, the colors. I wasn't paying attention to the choice of the color until I have finished all of the other thought/imagination/interpreting process. To see it vertically, the darker color seems to be on the edge and it goes brighter towards the middle. I think it works well with the overall composition. And the bright yellow is definitely standing out from blue, brown and black.