Dominion

A concept with a visual spark, a clear idea, two contrasting colors, and an elegant and calming design where the main character dressed with bright, breathtaking color and emotional rendering is complemented and supported by secondary actors. The red grape painted with expressive brushstrokes holds the lightest lights and the darkest darks.  The secondary characters let the eye of the viewer travel through the composition but there is no doubt that the color red holds the attention.

A painting that can call the viewer from afar to invite him to finish the narrative. A direct painter, David captivates the harmony between the beauty and the mystery of these simple spheres floating in a sort of magical world. His critical eye on design is ratified with a clear read in the composition where the focus is strategically placed considering the well known rule of thirds. 

A balanced application of brushstrokes and palette knife to create sumptuous and dramatic textures. The title is so simple that sparks the imagination of the viewer. The story is told with color relationships, shapes and design. 

The light is augmented as if it transcends the real world. There is an energy and a flow that elevates the concept of a contemporary still life. The objects move beyond the mundane and achieve greatness with a presence that provokes a feeling. The colorful light shines bright on the darkest dark to create the highest contrast.

The elongated shape brings elegance to the sphere and the casting shadow with the darkest blue complements its opposite color orange creating tension and harmony. Notice the two highlights on the red grape, one cool on the top area of the grape and a warm yellow highlight on the warmer area that feels like a light emanates from the object. The complexity of the red grape holds the most detail, the highest value contrast, the most saturated color and the thickest texture. The supporting actors are there to balance the composition but they clearly hold a secondary role.  

The vibrancy and transparency of the painting is balanced with thin and translucent dark colors complemented by thick and opaque lighter colors. The delicate equilibrium of saturate and desaturate colors in tactical places shows the mastery of the medium.

There is a dimensionality and sculptural quality to the objects that are carried by color choices and edge control. 

Finally, the viewers' eyes may linger in this painting for longer than a gaze to a museum masterpiece, but it is not for the lack of clarity but for the calming nature of the greens and blues in the background with its subtle changes in color temperature. The tactile quality of those thick highlights along with the intense transparency of that red grape absorb the viewer's attention and lets their eyes rest on the subtle textures of the green grapes.  The balancing act of giving the viewer plenty of room to rest the eye is a compositional tool that only experience and practice foment.  Noting that the real estate occupied by that colorful and red grape in the board is insignificant, the painting seems bright and colorful because it is limited to a small space. The painting becomes about that red object. 

Composed of soft, forgiving hues that are offset by a passage of rich deep colors, David Cheifetz’s Dominion is an evocative and enigmatic expression told in oil on canvas. Delicate and tonally intricate washes of blues and greens form the backdrop of the composition. Despite their uninterrupted chromatic harmony, these azul and green passages do not collapse into each other but maintain a marked individuality that belies their combined visual cohesion. Furthermore, besides the shockingly richly colored orb in the righthand center (which I will get to momentarily), the mysterious hanging spheres adorning Dominion’s surface are a part of the backdrop while simultaneously superimposed on top of it. I cannot quite find the eloquence to describe this unlikely pairing, but through some painterly magic, Cheifetz manages to establish these globes as part of their background and individual entities.

But, you might ask, what are these glowing balls of gradating pigment? I do not have one answer to this question, but I could hazard a few. At first, they appeared as ornaments adorning a festive scene or grapes hanging tantalizingly before the viewer, but, upon further inspection, they started to look less like decorations reflecting the world around them, and more like worlds unto themselves. Self-contained microcosmos of light and color, these orbs are planets or even galaxies suspended in space. The protagonist of the painting hangs near its center and radiates a warm fire-like brilliance that glows with an intense and intoxicating allure. This gentle inferno draws the viewer into the work with an undemanding yet thoroughly engrossing and seductive charm.  

beautiful!