Flowers and Cigarettes (2026) Original Acrylic Painting by Zakhar Shevchuk

Two naked figures meet the viewer beneath a crescent moon. The man is close, his back turned but his face looking towards us; a cigarette rests behind his ear and a single white flower is held in his hand. Farther into the landscape, a woman faces forward carrying a bouquet. The same simplified flower grows from the ground in the foreground, quietly connecting the different depths of the painting.

Flowers and Cigarettes is built around an unresolved encounter. The viewer appears to have entered the scene unexpectedly, yet neither figure reacts as though anything inappropriate has happened. Their nudity suggests vulnerability and intimacy, but the atmosphere is conspicuously peaceful rather than erotic or dramatic. Shevchuk leaves us between intrusion and invitation, allowing the uncertainty itself to become the subject.

The painting reflects the artist’s recent development towards a more distilled expressionist vocabulary. Broad fields of cobalt blue and pale green establish the nocturnal space, while roughly articulated bodies, strong contours and deliberately simplified details give the image its immediacy. The ordinary cigarette behind the man’s ear introduces a wonderfully mundane counterpoint to the dreamlike circumstances.

Materials used:

Acrylic

Details:

• Acrylic painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 86 x 126 x 2cm (unframed)
• Signed certificate of authenticity
• Style: Expressive and gestural
• Subject: People and portraits