Winners of ARTchallenge#22 Announcement! Invited Judge is a Very Ta...

Hello everyone!

I will be happy if you take part in my ArtstyleArt contest:

13th ARTstyleART Theme Announcement. Action Painting + Music!!! No Need to Be an Artist to Take Part!

Thank you, everyone, for the great entries!!!!!!!!! You really impress me all the time and I am happy that you learn more when you are interpreting paintings and share your thoughts and investigations with us and we develop with you!

Our invited judge was a great person @sumsum. She is a constant participant of the contest and a very talented poems writer. She often won Artchallenges. And I am very grateful for agreeing to be a judge of this challenge.

Participants should give an interpretation to a surreal painting of Rafal Olbinski
enter image description here
Rafal Olbinski

@sumsum's comment:

Good day steemit,

For the first time I have the honor of judging the artchallenge. I
love this challenge and the art I find through it and I really enjoyed
to read the interpretations for the Artchallenge 22.

These three entries touched me especially.

So, THE WINNERS ARE:

THE THIRD PRIZE (20 TRAIL + 2 SBD) GOES TO: @girlbeforemirror

@sumsum 's comment:

I have not read a text about a separation of a couple
in such beautiful language in a long time. I did not see the role of
the dog until I read the interpretation by @girlbeforemirror. Really a
beautiful read. I will visit @girlbeforemirror more often now. :)

ARTQUEST-TRAIL#22 ARTchallenge : Entry.

This surrealist painting by Rafal Olbinski to me depicts the the complex issues of a couple.

The separation of the two figures is
achieved by placing the woman outside, and the man inside.

His attire is representative of a grown man. His behaviour however
speaks of his reluctance to transition to adulthood.

The image links the two characters familiar relationship quite
effectively in the posture and expression of the woman.

It is as though she is watching and waiting for him to be ready to
move on to a more mature relationship.

The man-child is engrossed in his childish play and completely unaware
of her growing restless wait.

The toy train he is so involved in is contrasted by the real "big boy"
train tracks that are literally waiting for him, right at the door
way.

The train set just goes around and around. An intense investment on
the part of the man to not move on.

The two trains, the toy and the real tracks represent his
unwillingness to transition to adulthood.

The doorway, a literal representation of this rite of passage.

But for the man and the circular train set, a single child like
portrait hangs on the wall. It appears as a mixture of jester and
altar boy.

A bizarre image with bright flowers revealed in the open blouse. A
contrast to the dank sparse room, the flowers represent the
possibilities that were not realised.

The open bright space outside with lush rolling greenery is also a
contrast to the dull tones used in the box like room. An unappealing
space aesthetically, but no doubt a safe confine for the person
inside.

The controlled painterly quality reflects the constraints he has
constructed to contain his existence. The simple geometry of his safe
little box is repeated in the predictable pattern of the uninspired
tiles. Safe, contained, predictable orderly insular world.

It lacks the vibrancy and unpredictable uncertainty of the outside
world. He has traded his future possibilities, at least for now, for
predictability.

The dog is an important element. Representative of the woman's desire
to care and nurture, and the possibility of waiting for her man to
join her on this journey.

The lead indicates they are heading somewhere, the dog is not just
playing outside the home, it is waiting as the woman is, to walk away.

The dog is very much a substitute for affection, companionship and
perhaps the possibility of a family or child.

If only the man she chose would be prepared to step through the
threshold to the world that awaits.

THE SECOND PRIZE (30 TRAIL + 3 SBD) GOES TO: @ir3k

@sumsum's comment:

This interpretation was full of different perspectives I did not see in the painting. I love the entry for it. Whereas I just saw the couple and their relationship @ir3k saw every element in the painting in different dimensions. Wonderful way to dive into the painting. Well done!

ArtChallenge 22 - The fulfillment of desires

When he was a child, he could stand for hours near the playground,
watching the playing children. How he envied these children! He did
not have any toys at all, because he grew up in such a poor family.
And he peered into the shop windows, unable to move away from them.
How he dreamed of a toy plane, car or train!

Now he is an adult, a rich and successful person. He can buy any toy
that he likes. But now he has a completely different dream. How he
wants a son! To watch football and walk together, to play new complex
toys together...

But he has neither a son nor a daughter.

His wife also wants a child very much. But only the dog Toby pleases
her and her husband.

But what a mysterious smile on the woman's face? A man is playing a
children's game with self-forgetful inspiration, imagining his son
next to him, and does not notice this enigmatic smile ...

He does not know yet that his wife has visited her doctor today, and
he informed her of the long-awaited pregnancy...

And in 8 months there will be a lot of joy and happiness! And he will
buy plenty of toys and games for the long-awaited son..

THE FIRST PRIZE (50 TRAIL + 5 SBD) GOES TO: @snooway

@sumsum 's comment:

I am all in awe about the entry
by @snooway. This post made me look beyond the painting and into the
personas the artist uses a lot. The clowns. I just love the joy
learning about art brings me. Thank you @snooway for brightening my horizons.

Artchallenge 22 entry: Observe and Listen

I was happy to be a guest judge last week in @aksinya's art challenge
and this week I am happy to be back as a participant. The painting for
interpretation this week is by Polish artist Rafal Olbinski. I was
first struck by the painting within a painting and wanted to see if he
was referencing someone else's work but I found his signature on the
painting if you look closely, suggesting he is referencing himself.
Here are two paintings of his that I think he is alluding to:

enter image description here

Even though clowns are supposed to bring laughter to their audience,
there are no smiles on the faces of the man and woman in this week's
painting. The painting on the wall can also be a court jester. Court
jesters are known to be clear-minded and able to see the farce of
life. They often speak the voice of truth to the king and can break
bad news to the ruler. Here, the jester is looking down at the couple.
He can clearly see the reality of their broken relationship while the
man below cannot because he is too focused on playing with the train
set. The ridiculous-ness of the situation is highlighted by the fact
that the man is wearing a business suit and hunched over the toys. I
don't think the man is acting like a child necessarily. I think he is
just too focused on his work, which may be that of a model train
designer or a real train manufacturer. The fact that the tracks just
go in a circle suggests that the man is running around in circles
himself, unable to detatch himself from the meaningless, aimless work
he is doing.

The painting of the clown/jester also has a bouquet of flowers. I
think it suggests that instead of obsessing about work, the man should
bring his wife flowers and show her his heart, just like the pianting
of the clown looks like his robe is being opened like the curtains on
the stage to reveal his vulnerable emotions that are hidden inside.
There must be open communication between the man and woman for the
relationship to work out.

The train tracks leading outside the door provide the glimmer of hope,
if only the man could take that step to leave the confines of his work
that is boxing him in the room while his wife is waiting for him
outside. The dog she has on a leash symbolises loyalty, which means
she is loyal to her husband and the marriage vows. However the fact
that she is wearing blue suggests she is feeling depressed and worried
about her husband and their future. How long must she wait? There is
so much life outside! Smell the fresh air and listen to the leaves of
the trees fluttering in the air! There's more to life than work, she
says in her heart. Will he finally hear her deepest desires? Or will
the sound of the train drown out her voice?

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!!!

THANKS TO EVERYBODY FOR PARTICIPATING!!!

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR JUDGE @sumsum !!!!!

GUYS, WHO HAD PROBLEMS WITH GETTING TRAIL, PLEASE LET ME KNOW AT STEEM CHAT OR DISCORD (@aksinya)!

Who won but didn't get VoiceShares please also let me know!!!

All the information about TRAIL and how to claim it you can find here.

If you have never dealt with SteemTrail Discord , you can go and check what it is here.

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To claim TRAIL you need to open an account. Just go to Open Ledger Account and follow the instructions. Then submit your Open Ledger account info (OL account “my-username” and Steem account “my-username”) in the #open-ledger-account-add channel or to me.

If you want to open Streemian account, just go here
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I already have interesting picture for ARTCHALLENGE #19 and it will differ from previous ones but I don't know about deadline as I might travel next week. But I plan to make announcement tomorrow.

You can see the previous artchallenges here:

EVERYBODY IS WELCOME!

I would like to THANK again those who supported this challenge, all the participants, @steem-trail (STEEM TRAIL Team), our invited judges @looftee, @paolobeneforti, @silviabeneforti, @surpassinggoogle, @ezzy, @lpfaust, @nature-sauvage, @throughwindows, @whd, @snooway, @sumsum and our supporters @ogochukwu, @looftee and @lpfaust.

Please FOLLOW, VOTE and RESTEEM this post.

I will be also very happy to any support of the artchallenge! If you want to be a judge or a sponsor, you are very welcome!

Join me on a quest to discover the treasures of beautiful artworks!

Always yours, @aksinya.

Winners of ARTchallenge#22 Announcement! Invited Judge is a Very Talented Poems Writer @sumsum!