Ritual 1990

Oleg Holosiy’s ‘Ritual’ is a painting that pulls you into its own world of colour, gesture and symbol. It’s like watching the residue of a dream unfold. The surface is built up with loose brushstrokes and a playful layering of warm and cool tones. There’s a raw energy in the way Holosiy lets the paint move, almost like a dance between control and chance. Those little faces dotted around the canvas – they’re like witnesses, aren’t they? Each one has its own quirky expression, and they give the piece this strange, captivating quality. The rawness in his approach reminds me of early work by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Both artists share a similar interest in art as a form which embraces ambiguity. Like Basquiat, Holosiy’s paintings are full of life. They give us permission to embrace the messiness and contradictions that make art, and life, so interesting.