Gurzuf 1981

Volodymyr Loboda painted “Gurzuf”, which is 74 by 61 cm, with what looks like oil on canvas. The way Loboda puts down these blocks of color, well, it's like he's building something, not just painting. It's all about that process of arranging shapes and colors, kind of like a game of Tetris but with feelings. The paint isn't trying to hide; it's right there, thick in some spots, showing off every brushstroke. Take that dark triangle near the bottom, for example. It anchors the whole piece, makes you feel the weight and depth, you can almost smell the linseed oil. It's like he's saying, "Here's a shadow, deal with it." Loboda's got this way of pushing and pulling your eye around, daring you to make sense of it all. It feels like he could be looking at early Cubism, you know, Braque and Picasso breaking things down and building them back up in their own way. It reminds us that art doesn’t always have to make perfect sense.