Late Supper
REPAST
It is allegory of the life cycles. Cyclicity perfectly characterizes humanity and our perception of time.
The Morning (childhood) – acquisition and accumulation. At the beginning of our life, we get our basis and potential from our family and the society we live in. We learn to see beauty around us, to feel – all these things we use and spend the rest of our life. Even if from the outside it seems a rather scanty breakfast, it surely brims with all the immaterial treasures: love, fantasy, discoveries, sharp feelings. The colors are milky, the stuffing – excessive. The memories of mother’s milk are still fresh. Yellow of orange juice is a symbol of concentrated emotions, taste of life, sincere joy and children’s energy. A lemon or an orange are symbols of an unquenched thirst. The thirst for action, knowledge and discoveries. The Day (youth, adulthood) - creation, destruction, giving. Meat, color red are symbols of life and sacrifice at the same time. A period of spending. Some build, others destroy. There is a natural balance. Yet, all of us sacrifice at this stage of our life. We give. Good or bad.
The Evening (old age, completion) - contemplation, calm. A meditative part. Scantiness of supper doesn’t mean scantiness of life or poverty. The table is set for one. We come alone to the end of our life, yet we are one-on-one with the divine, merging with this world. It is a period of transition. It is then when all matter extinguishes and loses its meaning. Our spirit, I believe, reaches the top. It deals with acceptance or denial. A set of items is simple and symbolic: a fish is a symbol of Christ, potatoes (the second bread) is the base (the body) and the floating around aura of spirit, black tea - a beverage meant not for simple quenching of one’s thirst, but for reflections.
The position of arms in the triptych I borrowed from "The Last Supper" by da Vinci. Leonardo made an emphasis on hands. While here, they "withdraw" to the background, inviting the viewer into one or another period of life.