Canvas, oil The painting "Life" refers to my pre-historical period. This is the time to search for your style in art. First of all, the canvas is interesting because there are almost no ornaments in the plot that are characteristic of most of my paintings. At that time, I was already in the "two steps" before coming to ornamentalism, the style I introduced into modern painting around 1996. The first half of the 90s in my work is a period of fascination with surrealism, which is well traced in the picture. The plot has a symbolic focus and in spite of the positive name, it has an apocalyptic meaning. That time is: the collapse of the USSR, rampant inflation, price rises, impoverishment of the population, the First Chechen War, the delay in wages of six months to people of working professions and endless gangster "disassembly" (explosions, shootouts) that could happen at any time and in any place All this created the impression that not only our country but the whole world "is heading for tar-tarara." In my picture, I symbolically depicted the instability of the world, its unsteadiness: the depicted design resembles a scale or a swing. People walk along the plane of the world and pull the "strap of life" like Repinsky barge haulers, unaware that the world can tip over at any moment. For me, this picture is a call, a warning to humanity: "People, stop and look where you are going! Maybe your tracks lead to the abyss?" Almost twenty-five years have passed since the painting was written, it seemed that much would have to change for the better. But ........................ It remains the main thing for us - without going over the edge to balance on the fragile plane of life ...