Arómír Domíníčk-Léónidovič Vítt (28 July, 1970 – ) is a prominent Agaran Abstract Expressionist painter born in the industrial town of Severnívmóšt. Very few of Vítt’s works are widely known in The West, but in his native Agara—and surrounding countries—even his contemporary “throwaway doodles” may command prices in the equivalent range of $400,000 (USD). This, according to the artist, is a continual source of astonishment. “I paint,” he says, “because I don’t know how else to stay sane.” Indeed, The Red Curtain and other works have been recognized by critics and Agaran-local art collectors as “vivid little exorcisms.” The Red Curtain (Oil on particle board) is, perhaps, the most famous of his expressionistic exorcisms. Vítt claims no spiritual inclinations, but this does not diminish the spirituality that many find in this particular, brooding work that the artist describes as the depiction of a gesture. Interpretations of “the gesture” vary widely, though his friend (and fellow artist,) Mara Iljáné-Víóletá Andronová maintains that The Red Curtain, completed in October of 1998, is Vítt’s most intimate expression of “the gesture of pain.” Arómír Vítt suffers from debilitating cluster headaches, and according to Andronová, The Red Curtain is Vítt’s depiction of over-stimulation of the optic nerve, experienced during the most intense of headaches the artist had experienced in early 1998. This is, perhaps, the most disturbing element of the painting. If we are to accept Andronová’s explanation, then the brooding, abstract cityscape broken by a blossom of intense crimson, is—in its purest form—the movement of pain along the Trigeminal nerve. Arómír Vítt offers some comfort, however, from Andronová’s explanation. “It is simple movement,” he says. “It is how darkness moves, when it is interrupted by the architecture of a city.” * * I’d planned on posting something slightly different: something a bit more nakedly photographic. Such a post will, undoubtedly come…later. As for this post…well…I guess you can probably say that the Abstract Expressionst painter, Hans Hoffman, is indirectly responsible. I can’t be sure, but in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Bantam Books re-printed a series of modern classics, and one particular edition of Aldous Huxley’s Eyeless in Gaza bore an exciting, if cryptic cover depicting something with a woman’s leg in it…the leg in question was bent into that “sexy pose” women put their legs in when implying demure, intimacy-obscuring near-nudity. I wasn’t interested in that fleshy-pink leg, however, it was the rest of the image that drew my attention. I can’t be sure if Hans Herman is the artist responsible for the image on that edition of the book, but his work bears quite a few (admittedly legless) similarities. Anyway, after fruitlessly searching for that particular image, I found myself fiddling around with photographs I’d taken, and after a bit of Gimp-inspired digifiddling (to borrow a phrase) I discovered that I’d made something very much like a painting. I judged it to be abstract and expressionist, though Real painters might call it something else, especially since it isn’t a painting. At any rate, I made it and here it is, and I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing it. As for Arómír Vítt: well, he’s the protagonist in the story “The Study of Afternaths” located on an earlier page of my gallery. I had no idea that he has so lengthy a name, nor did I know that he (like me, and Daniel Radcliffe) suffers from cluster headaches. Such headaches do cause gestures, often described as highly kinetic interpretive dance. This image isn’t a depiction of pain, and yet…one does see some of the most pretty colors in the grips of such a headache. As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great, headache-free week.