Based on pure visceral impact, I find this to be a very compelling piece. It caught my eye as I was browsing from deviation to deviation, and anything that rises above the level of noise in that scenario is worth taking a closer look. Upon a more detailed examination, I saw a combination of elements that was both pleasing to the eye and emotionally engaging, but also a few technical glitches that really do detract from the calibre of the overall work.

In particular, there are some compositing errors--simple to correct--that would have immediately raised my rating of technique by an entire star. The cube itself, for instance, while connected to the hand through the brush, is divorced from the scene as a whole because it lacks a soft shadow to the lower right. This breaks the reality of the piece, making it "feel" manipulated. The power of this composition comes from the idea that this ~could~ happen, that someone has actually done what those of us with Mr Rubik's Foul Device have often wished: cheated.

In addition, the angle of this shot shows the traditional colors of the cube (yellow-orange-WHITE-red-green-blue), yet the container of white paint is noticeably absent in the background. This might be overlooked were it not for the fact that the connection point between the hand and the cube, between action and reaction, is *between* the blue and white squares, which forces the eye to search in vain for that color. This extra attention to the background also reveals that it seems to be of a different resolution than the foreground material, which is a second distractor.

On the positive side for technique, though, I noticed that the yellow side of the cube has what appears to be droplet texture added to it, which GREATLY fosters the illusion of painting. That, and the use of depth of field to create intimacy with the hand, coupled with the stark white background (reminiscent of a cleanroom setting) jump out at me as especially clever elements.