Throwing knives (part 1) 1991

Oleg Holosiy made Throwing Knives (part 1) with what looks like oil on canvas. The way Holosiy builds up the image feels really immediate, you can sense him wrestling with the paint! The textures in the painting are kind of gnarly, especially in the foreground, with all those tangled brushstrokes forming these dark, undefined tropical bushes. Then you notice these spindly palm trees reaching up into a pale sky. There's a real tension between the flatness of the surface and the depth he's trying to create with the composition. I’m really drawn to the way he applies the paint in short, choppy strokes, it’s like he’s building up the image one little mark at a time. For me, Throwing Knives shares some of that same raw energy you find in the work of someone like Philip Guston. Both artists embrace a certain awkwardness, a kind of anti-style that allows them to get at something more urgent and true. And that's what I love about art – it's not about perfection, it's about the messy, beautiful process of trying to make sense of the world.