Near the Sea 1960

Valerii Lamakh created this heavily textured oil painting, "Near the Sea". The tactile surface and earthy tones envelop the viewer, evoking a sense of closeness with the depicted scene. Lamakh uses a complex arrangement of figures and shapes; notice how the figures are integrated into a dense, almost abstract composition. The subjects are discernible through color and form, yet the details are lost amidst the impasto. The figures seem to emerge from a dream, their identities obscured by the rough texture. The painting destabilizes traditional notions of representation. Lamakh is less concerned with accurately depicting reality and more interested in exploring the expressive potential of paint itself. The surface becomes a field of visual information where shapes, figures, and the setting merge. This subversion of clear, representational forms aligns the painting with the modernist movement, which challenges fixed meanings through abstraction.