Leoníd Vóitsekhov is a modern Odesa artist, art theorist, curator and writer. He was born in 1955 and lived in Odésa almost all his life. He is named the father of Odesa Conceptualism — a current of contemporary art, which claims that the main thing is not the form of the work, but its intellectual component. Most of Vóitsekhov’s works are simple drawings and texts built on wordplay and neologisms. The artist uses absurd situations and forces the viewers to pay attention to non-obvious aspects.

Leoníd Vóitsekhov’s work “Tha Late Stroke” is a diptych consisting of two parts — a large and a small one. In the main, bigger part, in the realistic manner of the 19th century, in the centre of the painting, there is a large, beautiful, dark-haired, middle-aged woman with a candle in her right hand. She is wearing a dark brown skirt, a lighter jacket and a white blouse. She is probably heading right into a darker part of the room. To her left is a table on which there is a large vase with a handle and a bouquet of red flowers. In the background behind the woman there is a large blue curtain, and a window is to the left.

The classic plot is disturbed by a small rectangular fragment of the canvas, which is to the right of the woman and is not covered with paint. On another, small part of the diptych, we see the same rectangle, already painted with dark paint. He runs on thin legs hastening to fill a free fragment in the main picture.

With this work, the author draws attention to the importance of small details. An unfilled fragment on a large canvas sharply draws our attention and makes the composition incomplete. We are all glad that the little brushstroke runs and rushes to fill the unfinished fragment.

This story also reminds us of the importance of the “little man” problem. There are no unnecessary members of society. The small inconspicuous man with thin legs is also important, like the beautiful woman.