A Couple 1992

Curator: This oil painting, entitled "A Couple," was created by Volodymyr Loboda in 1992. Its modern expressionist style features strong, gestural lines in blues and pinks. Editor: Whoa, my first thought? Intimacy, but… distant. Like a memory fading into the blue. Is it just me, or is there a cool sadness hanging in the air? Curator: It’s not just you. The painting's abstracted forms, and especially the figures rendered almost entirely in blue, evoke themes of melancholia, and alienation, common in art responding to post-Soviet disillusionment. Editor: Blue’s always got that undertone, right? But then you throw in those fleshy pinks, hinting at warmth beneath the surface. It's a real push-and-pull, a vibe I recognize, even if I can't name it. Like wanting to connect, but not knowing how. Curator: Exactly. Consider, too, the period. In the early 90s, as previously established social structures were collapsing in Ukraine and in many places worldwide, individual relationships were facing new types of pressures and transformations. Loboda captures this transition with his fractured figures and stark use of color. He's not painting just bodies; he is painting vulnerability and fractured subjectivity. Editor: Vulnerability, yeah. You can see it in how the lines sort of break apart. And that pink ground, that fleshy stage, almost feels… fragile. Like the slightest touch could crumble it all. But on another note: It’s so wild how you can suggest bodies with just a few strokes. I think Loboda gets the energy and mass perfectly here with abstract elements that have more emotional meaning rather than purely anatomical function. Curator: Precisely. Loboda leverages abstract expressionist methods, but to portray representational content. Editor: This work makes me think of those old faded Polaroids you find tucked away in a drawer. There’s the suggestion of something, something very close, but now obscured by time. Curator: So perhaps this pushes beyond post-Soviet identity in Ukraine and begins to say something broader, something about connection and fleeting human moments? Editor: Maybe that’s it: How do you hold on when everything's changing so fast? I mean, if a painting from '92 can hit me this hard, some things clearly stick around.