A Simple Life Story

Odysseus Krum

55 x 67″

Oil on Canvas

“A Simple Life Story” is a surrealist composition that challenges the viewer’s perception of reality, selfhood, and the fluid boundaries of consciousness. The artist masterfully blends realism with geometric abstraction, creating a dreamlike tableau where symbolism and form converge in a world both familiar and profoundly disorienting.

At the core of the piece, two floating spheres encapsulate fragmented human figures—one holding a contemplative figure wearing a hat, limbs entwined in introspection, while the other contains a distorted face obscured by hands, its features melting into fluid, organic shapes. These encapsulated forms suggest solitude, self-reflection, and the duality of identity, existing as isolated yet interconnected realms within the same surreal space.

A scattered billiard table in the foreground, punctuated by the presence of an ominous black 8-ball, introduces themes of chance, fate, and life’s unpredictable trajectory. Above, a suspended flower blossoms from a geometric structure, evoking notions of fleeting beauty, transformation, and the passage of time. The fractured sky, composed of abstracted blue and yellow brushstrokes, intensifies the sense of displacement and dreamlike suspension.

The artist’s use of skewed perspective, floating shadows, and distorted reflections heightens the painting’s sense of weightlessness and instability, making the boundaries between space, object, and meaning deliberately ambiguous. The palette—a muted neutral backdrop contrasted with vibrant blues, yellows, and deep purples—adds to the psychological intensity and symbolic richness of the work.

A must-see for collectors and enthusiasts of surrealism, symbolic abstraction, and psychological fine art, this painting offers an introspective, thought-provoking experience that lingers long after the first encounter.