While at first glance the paintings are visually pleasing, the underlying metaphores tactfully intertwined in the paintings offer a far wider perspective. Victor Ostrovsky has a background with the Israeli Mossad (foreign intelligence service), giving him a particularly unique insight into the dramatic lives of spies.

In the series of paintings you will note that the faces of these spies are partially hidden using umbrellas, gloves, and fedoras to conceal the identity of the characters and create an alluring mystery.

There is also an aspect of recurring checkered patterns, suggesting a ‘good or bad’ theme. With the spies blending in amongst each other and not being able to tell who’s who, it’s quite easy to lose track of who the other people on your team are. This opens the characters up to a complex meta-deception game and creates a higher level of intricate, daring storytelling through the paintings.

Ostrovsky tells these stories through his paintings incredibly well, and manages to capture your thoughts in a way that leaves you with more questions than answers, while still being able to enjoy the elegant film noir styled paintings.

For more of Victor Ostrovsky’s work, click here.