i absolutely love this picture. something about it makes me ache inside, but in a good way. thank you for sharing.

Well, this is quintessential Vlad. Amazing combinations of color and texture, mastery of technique, whimsical theme and a cartoonish element somewhere in the composition. Sometimes the cartoonish aspect is well-integrated (as in "Punctuation") and sometimes it seems willfully incongruous or ironic, like graffiti slapped on top of a masterpiece. Like many here, I'm in love with Vlad's art. But living with the cartoon octopus is a struggle. At the same time, we must realize the composition would be empty, dark and lonely without it. At the risk of offending genius, I try to imagine our pianist without dark stripes and the bulging cartoon eyes replaced by classic Ray-Ban shades with burnt orange lenses. Would that work? Would "Pianist" still be recognizable around the world as a Vlad? If I could answer those questions, I might be creating popular works of art myself instead of slaving 9 to 5 [LOL]!