Igor Pjörrt – Self-Portrait (2017)

Pjörrt is unnervingly good at what he does.

I have compared his work to Lina Scheynius before but this makes it clear that while it’s easy to see how one could make that association, he’s really been working in rather the opposite direction.

Everything about this screams passionate Caravaggio homage.

I mean the argument holds up to scrutiny if you only consider Pjörrt‘s use of red and his clear favoring of tenebrism. But to my eye the above image is exactly what I picture in my head when I think of Caravaggio’s paintings–something exactly halfway between the later version of Boy Bitten by a Lizard and Boy with a Basket of Fruit.