Good and Evil Painting

Allegorical painting Good and Evil (1996) continues to be a matter of controversy for the audi-ence, attempting to define the boundaries of good and evil, according to their perception of the image. Against the backdrop of a surrealistic landscape, the painting depicts two graceful female figures with cups and flowers in their hands. Their mirror position relative to each other, the lack of ‘eloquent’ attributes makes the viewer think, compare and look for an answer. It is difficult to determine explicitly which of the beauties symbolizes Good and which Evil. And also in real life the good and the evil coexist and divide human life into black and white strips. In the famous painting by Sandro Botticelli The Calumny of Apelles images of slander, malice, envy and igno-rance were also represented by the images of beautiful women, which made the painting become even more acute and expressive. Vystropov’s painting is full of allusions to the passing nature of existence, to the vanity of human life and to the inevitability of the course of history. In the sor-rows of the human arduous path survived ravaged temples, sand-covered cities, Christ’s crown of thorns, and barbed wire from Auschwitz. Good and evil are nearing each other, but there is a huge split between them that is terminated at the horizon by a Ferris wheel which can be inter-preted as the wheel of history. Messiah - the boy in a white neck-to-toe shirt - embodies Hope. His choice will determine the fate of mankind. A little figure, standing between the poles of Light and Darkness represents a guide for a lost pilgrim. Refinement of technique, a virtuosity of style and aesthetics of the means of art make one re-member the tradition of mannerism. However, in the paintings by A. Vystropov the form will never prevail over the content and will not become an end in itself. The philosophy of life of the artist-romantic is often based on the internal need for the ‘subjective experience of time’. He in-terprets the meaning of each of his paintings as an expression of a certain idea by visual means, which is in tune with the present. But he remains the temperament lyricist and philosopher at the same time. He does not try to educate or to instruct anybody. Good and Evil, Love, which trans-forms the world, the eternal search for the ideal, these are the themes that ‘torment the soul of the artist’ who never makes conclusions and who never gives definitive answers. Zdenek Knof-lichek, the Czech art critic, wrote in 2001: “… seemingly incongruous objects, symbols of parts, are combined into a meaningful whole that speaks to the viewer from within the artist’s experi-ence. Each painted figure, and every object has its place and its role in the composite.”