PARADOXES OF AN AVALANCHE

"Have you ever heard an avalanche rumble in the mountains? Just after an avalanche rocks and the absolute Silence comes. You do not understand where you are - it is a hundred percent silence. It's just Very Quiet..." © Haruki Murakami, "Sheep Hunting"

It is beautiful and terrible, it shines with diamonds and fears destruction, and it can wait for centuries motionlessly before suddenly striking a fatal blow. Avalanche. Her diagnosis is final. However, in the fall of the snow boulders there is greatness and beauty, music and fatal. Danger beckons like an abyss: storm, lightning or volcanic eruption - we want to see this anger of the elements, but at a distance and without casualties. "Paintings! - proposes the Master. To revive an avalanche, Valentin Popov uses a paradoxical technique, mixing acrylic and oil, applying layers gradually as it dries, as if performing a magic ritual. Nevertheless, the main magic is not a technique, although it is certainly authentic and virtuoso. A master spills an avalanche of his talent on canvas. Тhe result is damn beautiful! The energy of an avalanche fills the surrounding space: the boulders come into motion. It seems that ice sparks burn the face and can be heard a distant rumble. You sigh lightly: "It's good that I'm just looking at it! Then comes the silence ... And, according to Murakami, "you no longer understand where you are». An avalanche like a magnet attracts the eye, suggestive with its dualism and triggers many sensual associations: inevitability, apotheosis, rage, music, eruption, fate... Valentin Popov: "For me, an avalanche is an orgasm of creativity".

My God, how many shades of white! No, shades of gray! However, look for yourself. After all, the way an avalanche looks depends on what the viewer has in mind. Everyone sees the situation as a picture, from their own perspective: dark gray (almost black) or light gray (almost white), or maybe something average (there are many shades - over two hundred). The many halftones on the way from darkness to light remind us of how difficult our life is and how irreversible time is. An avalanche had not be turned back. However, it possible to stop it. Valentin Popov manages it brilliantly!