Andrew Ivanentis Melancholia

Andrew Leventis’ Melancholia (Figure 1) offers a point of view of a person pouring what looks like Bourbon or Whisky. Painted with oil on linen last year, there is a fuzziness and texture that wouldn’t be possible with a standard canvas. What seems to be a simple action takes a complete different approach with this rendering due to a use of minutia and perspective quite different than what we are likely to see in terms of painting this everyday action. This disorientation in terms of viewpoint and accentuation of details in certain areas serve the purpose of adding sadness, melancholia (which explains the title) and vicious curiosity of what this person is going through and how she copes with it. This painting presents a person pouring, what is probably, an alcoholic beverage in a vase or carafe while holding the top of the bottle in the left hand. The presence of nail color indicates that the person in questions is a woman. Except her arms, no other parts of her body can be seen which unable a personal recognition. However, the lack of folds in the
skin or riddles can show the youngness of the character. Due to the lack of a facial identity, this scene could apply to any woman looking at the picture. The arm, bottle and carafe dominate the composition. The forearm holding the container take part of two third of the canvas. A series of vessels is on the left side on what appears to be a table while on the right side there is not very much which only the presence of curtains. While the pose of the figure is supposed to be dynamic, there is quite a stillness in the overall composition that takes over the movement. The proportions seem completely believable and we can feel a certain tension in the right arm even though the left hand looks relaxed. These feelings are accentuated using line, space and texture that give an overall sense of disorientation that might be associated with alcohol. There is a strong use of lines in this painting. On the right side, the curtains form vertical lines that are crossed by the arm which point wards the left side of the painting. On the left sides, the shadows, casted by the sun coming from the window onto the vessels, produce intricate wavy line that contrast with the other side of the painting. Moreover, the vase, lamp and flask provide an additional balance with circular lines. However, the sense of space in this composition is altered since it seems that the table and the ground of the room are one which create an optical illusion. The action seems closer than expected. Also, the background is quite fuzzy as well as some outlines like the forearm or the lamp which is similar to what the eye would see in real life. It is worth noting the heavy use of detail in the area surrounding the bottle with a great use of shadows and highlights while the rest of the composition is quite blank and nothing really happens. The overall mood of the painting is quite melancholic due mainly to the subject of alcohol drinking, but also by the use of color.
The work has several tints of brown and beige which gives a vintage ambiance to the scene. The most eye catching part is the color of the liquid which almost has a golden hue. Even though the atmosphere is somber, the picture is quite well-lit which is probably to show that even during a bright sunny day, people can feel down and melancholic to a point of drinking alcohol on their own. To conclude, Andrew Leventis wants to show a simple action that people usually do to either celebrate or when felling down and by using a sense of disorientation and confusion with fuzzy lines and curious perspective proves his point which is the title Melancholia. This painting is a representation of an action resulting of a feeling in our everyday life and almost anybody can relate to this
situation.