Carole Pinto Fine Arts

The theme of card players at a table has been represented by painters over the centuries, from George de la Tour to Cezanne.  The Cubists considered this theme as subject matter for their experimentation on representing three dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface. 

Doronine draws the eye towards the center of the painting by creating a structure out a myriad of geometric patterns.  A vigilant observer will make out a green table surrounded by cardplayers, who appear to be seated a garden surrounded by a black, wrought iron fence.  On the surface of the green table are actual playing cards that have been glued onto the canvas, and whose two dimensionality underlies the flatness of the picture plane.  This quilt-like composition is constructed out of curvilinear and rectilinear shapes, as well as ‘textured’ surfaces that add a sense of tactile materiality to the work.  The artist succeeds in created a vibrant, energetic pictorial surface where color and line intersect in sem- recognizable shapes,while giving way to a certain, overall sense of abstraction.