My giver sent out his/her package on the day of matching, but nothing arrived... so we were both really bummed and messaged each other. If I wouldn't have got it next Monday, I'm pretty sure I'd have quit reddit exchanges altogether. (I used to get scammed during the first secret santa and some snack exchanges, this is the first time I've used redditgifts.com)

My giver contacted the store he ordered from. Package was underway and should already've arrived. I cornered my mailman on his route, asking whether he'd seen anything like a big package or a poster tube? Nope. So I pretty much had given up hope... But on an ungodly ealry hour on a Sunday morning (of all mornings), an elderly neighbor rings my doorbell incessantly. Apparently, a courier with dyscalculia switched the numbers on the package and delivered it at his house last Friday.

My package has arrived! Unscathed, unopened, and from the looks of it: big. Time to open this sucker up! Kudos to Zazzle for stapling their tubes closed. Pretty impossible to open up without tools. And within the tube, the poster is rolled into thick cardboard as well. Proper packaging.

What an amazing print. It took me a while to take it all in. All those colours and shapes. The instruments are immediately recognizable, but the picture is very much layered. The tiny bottles, trumpets, rats, houses, people, flowers, ... I've been looking for what may have been an hour at that picture, trying to get a glimpse of all the details that were hidden among the seemingly random shapes and structures. Best wake-up call ever.

The poster also has a little note from 'asoldatenko'. Picture by asoldatenko, it said. So obviously, I immediately want to know who this guy is. Is it a redditor who sent me a digital copy of a painting he made himself? Herself? But when I check for /u/asoldatenko on Reddit or redditgifts, nothing comes up. So I look closer at the signature at the bottom left. "A. Soldatenko"

Which leads me to a Russian/Ukrainian painter who is into yoga? Sadly enough, I'm not that well-versed in whatever language it is he's speaking.

http://www.artmajeur.com/en/artist/soldatenko/collection/avant-garde-and-experiment/1332619/artwork/composition-with-musical-instruments/5478994 http://fineartamerica.com/featured/composition-with-musical-instruments-andrey-soldatenko.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=CsuudxdBz_k#t=152s (the time mark shows the painting on the floor of his studio!)

I'd never heard of this artist before today, and I've spent most of my lazy Sunday behing my PC, looking up his works (amazing stuff, btw) and trying to find some kind of background or backstory for 'Composition With Musical Instruments'. If anyone could provide me with either a translation of that YouTube video or some background on the artist/painting, I'd be very grateful.

Man, it's time to take a shower and have breakfast. It's already 3PM. Thank you so much for your amazing gift, whoever you are. I'm not even mad about getting up early!

PS: The photos were made with my cell phone. Sorry about the poor quality, they don't do the print justice.