Work Text:
Allei was a study in artistic heartbreak. His fingers were long and pale and stained with charcoal. The Canvas before him stared with blank eyes, and he avoided its gaze. Helena lingered in the studio doorway. Her husband was even more beautiful this way than in his expressive joys, but it was the beauty of a worn grave; he was marked but his self had worn away.
~
“Cemetery at Dusk” by Allei Starkov (oil on canvas) - Starkov’s trademark stark lines and long shadows are right at home in this landscape. The painting depicts, as the title suggests, a cemetery at dusk with the low sun casting a dim black and purple glow over the graves. Closer inspection of the background shows a figure, possibly a woman based on garb, who is kneeling before a gravestone with their body slumped over the top, gripping it in a sort of embrace. There are muddy footprints visible on the central path of the cemetery that seem to lead to this lone, grief-stricken figure.
~
Helena walked softly into the room and brushed Allei’s long hair from his eyes. It was sweat-soaked. He looked at her, and she kissed his fingers.
“The paints are too quiet,” he whispered. “They must be loud, or I cannot paint.”
“Fear not,”Helena said. “We will help them find their voice again. We will make them shout.”
~
“Bindings” by Allei Starkov (oil on canvas) - This still life takes on a surrealist quality as Starkov’s ropes twist to the point of seeming to have more beginnings than endings. The hanging net in the background contains an obscured figure, visible only with one eye catching the light and a hand twisted around a gap in the net. Closer inspection shows locks of hair scattered amongst the ropes.
~
“Is it possible?” Allei asked her.
“Of course. Simply tell me what you need, and I will make the paints scream for you. Anything.”
Allei’s face still held its misery, but Helena was certain to change that. The paints would save him; it was hers to save the paints.
~
“Fallen Angel” by Allei Starkov (oil on canvas) - At first glance, this piece appears almost abstract: a mess of feathers in reds so dark as to be almost black. But if you stop and study the piece, the figure reveals itself. Rust brown lips and hair cut in uneven locks and bloody gashes along the visible shoulder are seen, blood morphing into the dark feathers.
~
Soon, the studio was filled with the smell of ink and oil. Helena’s back was stiff from standing so still to model for so long, and, of course, the stitches. She rubbed at her shoulder with one hand as she watched Allei paint. When her hand came away red, she walked in and wiped it across a blank section of canvas. She leaned in close and whispered, “To deepen the colors,” in Allei’s ear, and felt the smile creep on his face.
~
“Lover’s Hand” by Allei Starkov (oil on leather) - The first element of this piece that may jump out at a viewer is its size. Unlike his frequent large or mid-size canvases, this painting is 4” by 6”, tiny in comparison. Starkov has stated he stretched and tanned a small piece of leather for this piece specifically, which limited its size. The type of animal it is from is unknown, though it is unusually thin. It depicts, in meticulous detail, a human hand with the lines done in deep red as though bleeding. With the blurred lines of the oils, it is hard to tell for certain if it is blood or simply the light affecting the color. This piece represents a shift in Starkov’s work to include more creative surfaces and materials.
~
There was a day when Helena could not get out of bed. She called for Allei, who came running to her side biting back apologies. She hushed him and asked only that he bring her his latest pieces, so she could see them from her prone position.
When he did, she pulled him to the bed with her, and their kiss emphasized the blank space where one of her teeth had been, getting both their mouths bloody. It was a special moment, and both started to laugh. Allei gave her a red peck on the cheek, and, when he rose, his grey slacks had matching red-stained knees.
He returned to his studio, leaving her with the paintings. He was right, she thought, they were better when the paint screamed.
~
“Feats and Feasts” by Allei Starkov (oil on bone) - Painted on a bleached rib bone*, the piece intricately depicts an acrobat suspended on an intricate twisting of robes and red silks. The acrobat’s face is obscured, but they have been theorized to be the same recurring person with rough cut hair in Starkov’s later works. Many have compared the figure to Starkov’s portrait of his wife, Helena Starkova, due to her similarly cut hair, but the artist has not commented on these comparisons.
* Starkov never specified how he acquired the human rib, but asserted that it was ethically sourced in response to public accusation of grave robbery.
~
“Paint me,” Helena told her artist. “Paint me.”
She gripped at Allei’s arms. “Make my paints scream.”
And when the brush touched her back, she did.
~
“Helena” by Allei Starkov (oil on leather) - Unlike Starkov’s other leather pieces, this portrait does not lack for scale. 2 ft by 4 ft is certainly a step up from the tiny “Lover’s Hand”. The leather is the same thin material as the others, and it is unknown how he managed to source such a large continuous section of it for the surface. The portrait depicts the artist’s wife, Helena Starkova. The composition is more traditional than most of Starkov’s other pieces. Helena fills the frame from the waist up. She is lying on a bed with long, rough cut auburn hair tangling around her head. She is partially nude with half of her chest covered by Starkov’s recurring ropes. Her skin is lined with creative markings in thin red filigree, likely a creative choice by the artist to rival against the more traditional composition. She has an expression of satisfaction or ecstasy.