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Eugene Pokutnev
Artist from Ukraine
Eugene's paintings aren't just compositions of colour - they are movements. They seemed to shift before your eyes, pulling you in, disorienting in the best way. His secret? ‘-black’ - a rare Japanese paint so dense that it absorbs nearly all light, creating an illusion of infinite depth. He orders it from a master in Japan, layering it alongside vibrant colour, bending space itself on the canvas. When you stand before his work, it’ as if you’ falling into the painting, moving between its layers, losing balance for just a second.
His journey into art was as unexpected as the effect of his work. Growing up in a small city near Dnipro, a career in art was never considered an option. He spent his days sketching intricate patterns but, like many others in his city, he needed stability. So he became a policeman.
And yet, fate has its way of rewriting stories. One day, while investigating a burglary, his colleague casually showed the apartment owner some of Eugene’ sketches. The man, a businessman with an eye for art, was so captivated that he made an offer on the spot: “ the police. I’ fund you.” And just like that, Eugene left law enforcement behind.
Look for 20 seconds. What do you see?
Contribute your perspective to the community & earn rewards. Leave your reflection below.
Insomnia
Painting by Eugene Pokutnev
160 x 120 cm • Acrylic
One of a kind
What happens when the world falls asleep, yet the mind refuses to follow? "Insomnia" is a monumental descent into the borderline realm of waking dreams—a tangible labyrinth woven from shreds of memory, fragments of information, and subconscious anxieties. The canvas captures the state of a deafening internal noise born within the absolute stillness of the night.
The visual space functions as a detailed anatomical cross-section of a hyperactive mind. A dense, pulsating web of biomorphic lines intertwines with cold, rigid cybernetic structures, creating a sense of relentless mental motion. Vibrant, almost jarring color fields collide with deep, hollow voids, dragging distorted imagery into the light: a stray gaze lost in a crowd of thoughts, or the soulless contours of a technological landscape exerting invisible control.
The composition is split into two contrasting poles. The left side explodes with the organic chaos of intrusive thoughts, while the more geometric and rigid right side evokes the cold alleys of a frozen night city or faceless microcircuits. This is a psychological landscape operating like a fractal; drawing closer reveals endless micro-narratives and hidden traps of the subconscious. It stands as a visual atlas of insomnia, where darkness offers no rest, but instead exposes human vulnerability to the weight of one's own distorted nocturnal illusions.
About the Artist
Eugene Pokutnev
Artist from Ukraine
Eugene's paintings aren't just compositions of colour - they are movements. They seemed to shift before your eyes, pulling you in, disorienting in the best way. His secret? ‘-black’ - a rare Japanese paint so dense that it absorbs nearly all light, creating an illusion of infinite depth. He orders it from a master in Japan, layering it alongside vibrant colour, bending space itself on the canvas. When you stand before his work, it’ as if you’ falling into the painting, moving between its layers, losing balance for just a second.
His journey into art was as unexpected as the effect of his work. Growing up in a small city near Dnipro, a career in art was never considered an option. He spent his days sketching intricate patterns but, like many others in his city, he needed stability. So he became a policeman.
And yet, fate has its way of rewriting stories. One day, while investigating a burglary, his colleague casually showed the apartment owner some of Eugene’ sketches. The man, a businessman with an eye for art, was so captivated that he made an offer on the spot: “ the police. I’ fund you.” And just like that, Eugene left law enforcement behind.
Look for 20 seconds. What do you see?
Contribute your perspective to the community & earn rewards. Leave your reflection below.
