St. Petersburg Red Pipes 1986

Dmytro Kavsan made this painting called "St. Petersburg Red Pipes" with what looks like oil or acrylic paint. You can see the brushstrokes layering to make a gray city punctuated with red lines of piping. I wonder if Kavsan felt like he was building this city himself, brick by painted brick. Each stroke like a decision, a small act of creation. The red pipes zig and zag across the facades of the buildings, like veins on skin. I imagine Kavsan thinking about circulation, how things flow through a city – water, people, ideas. And how color changes what we see, the red highlights creating energy and a sense of urgency. The thick paint gives everything a solid, tangible feel. The whole scene looks like it's been built up over time, layer upon layer, like the history of a real city. It reminds me a bit of some of the early modernists, like Kirchner, who were also trying to capture the feeling of a city. Artists have always looked to each other for inspiration, riffing on ideas and finding their own way to express them.