Burning It (2025) Original Pastel Drawing by Maxim Bondarenko

"Burning It" is built around a brutal, elegant contradiction: the figure is closed, and the image is on fire. The man’s crossed arms lock the body in place, compressing chest and shoulder into a single protective gesture. It’s a pose we read immediately—self-soothing, refusal, containment. The body is rendered with warm browns and pale, rubbed highlights that give it weight, while thin cool edges (blue-green) make the silhouette flicker against the black paper. That flicker matters: it keeps the figure from settling into “classical nude” territory and pushes it toward something more nervous and contemporary.

Materials used:

Oil pastel on black paper

Details:

• Pastel drawing on Paper
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 30.48 x 45.72 x 0.25cm (unframed)
• Signed on the front
• Style: Surrealistic
• Subject: People and portraits