Neo Deco | The Double – 2026-09-05

A Magic Pose Needs Something Extra

This pastel pencil drawing ‘Neo Deco | The Double – 2026-09-05’ takes my cubist endeavours a step further. Magic realism meets cubist styling. To date I didn’t use this combination. The continuum of the Muse – 2026-08-25 was magic realist alright but didn’t contain cubist styling and color. This time, it did and the reason is an accidental necessary one. The model’s pose I found to be incredible with three parts lit: hair, shoulders and buttocks. However, a very static, standing position and in my eyes this can lead to a lot of boredom. This sort of verticality always needs some kind of counterbalancing.

Parallel Realities

So I left the idea on the shelf for a while and then I got the idea of introducing a mirror. Not very strang of course, given my recent In Hoc Signo painting. You can say I’m a bit of a symbolist as well, giving value to staircases, mirrors and water reflections. Obviously, the last two open doorways to parallel realities. First I was afraid the reflection of the woman would act like an clump. I feared it might appear as attached to the main female form in front of the mirror. That is why I only left it sketchy, so it doesn’t get in the way. Naturally, reflections are always a bit lighter, because of the light scattered in front of it.

Enter the Creep

In the process of sketching the mirrored woman I decided to have her look to the viewer. That is the magic realist aspect I was searching for. Some time ago I saw some creepy videos online (on Twitter). There were mirror reflections that don’t reflect what’s in front of the mirror. Those probably are fake, or are they? Anway, they are scary and this also counterbalances the aesthetic aspect of a beautiful woman. Last but not least, the blue is also different from the surrounding areas outside the mirror. First, I thought of a Ukrainian theme, with a yellow part in the lower side of the mirror. That, I found too much of a good thing. There is only so much that you can put in one single drawing and I like the tonal bandwidth in this one. More to come.

Technical Details

Pastel pencil drawing on Ami Sketching paper (‘KBB’) – 21 x 29.7 cm

Artist: Corné Akkers

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