Odalisque in Red Satin Pantaloons

"Odalisque in Red Satin Pantaloons (after Matisse)" 2011, ink on paper, 28 x 10 inches by RACC artist Dmitry Borshch

The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review, a literary and arts journal housed at Johns Hopkins University, interviews Dmitry Borshch (an excerpt):

What moves you as an artist?

I find moving whatever helps me to begin or finish a picture. It may cease to move me tomorrow, be totally unmoving to someone else today, but I am always willing to be moved by anything that contributes to the picture-making effort.

What motivated you to make the works that are posted to Eckleburg?

I distinguish between narrow and broad motivations, which may not always interact. The second type of motivation is a desire to speak as an artist – silence, especially artistic, is painful. The first involves being challenged by narrower, often technical problems – arranging successfully a group or one-figure portrait, succeeding as a landscapist, still-life painter.

Why are all of your pieces in blue and white?

Blue harmonizes with the very white paper I like to draw on better than other colors. But not all my pieces are blue; 'Odalisque in Red Satin Pantaloons (after Matisse)' and some others are red.

Why is Odalisque red and white?

I tried to connect this picture not only with Odalisque à la culotte de satin rouge, Matisse’s lithograph, but also his famous painting L'Atelier Rouge, both in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Hopefully, the red I chose for this drawing will be seen as harmonious with the paper’s white.