Dima Dmitriev painted A Playful Past from above, looking down at a group of boys in flat caps crouched around a chalk circle on bare ground. They are deep in some street game, marbles or coins, the kind that used to fill whole afternoons. Their long shadows stretch across the pale pavement and almost become part of the game themselves. Off to the left, a barefoot girl in a red dress stands apart and watches, not quite invited in. The oil colours are muted greys and browns, so that single red dress carries the whole picture.