Mihail Chemiakin – Ventre de Paris Series, 1977 Lithograph on Paper

Mihail Chemiakin – Ventre de Paris Series, 1977
Lithograph on Paper, Signed and Numbered

This bold and surreal lithograph by Mihail Chemiakin, part of the Ventre de Paris (The Belly of Paris) series from 1977, transforms a butcher hauling a side of beef into a fantastical hybrid figure—part man, part bird, part carcass. The visual fusion of flesh and form, rendered in Chemiakin’s signature metamorphic style, creates a haunting figure with a distorted anatomy that evokes both the weight of labor and the grotesque poetry of the marketplace.

Set against a textured backdrop of gold-toned hues with a striking red brick wall element in the corner, this work emphasizes theatricality and drama. Here, the beef becomes not only a burden but an extension of the worker himself, suggesting the inescapable entwinement of human and task. Chemiakin’s homage to the physical labor behind French cuisine finds expression in this dreamlike, unsettling vision, evoking the themes of transformation, sacrifice, and identity.