Beauty and escape 1992

Volodymyr Loboda made "Beauty and escape," in what looks to be oil on canvas. The colour palette is striking, with vibrant reds, blues and golds, but it’s the brushwork that really grabs me. It's so immediate, like Loboda was wrestling with the paint, trying to pin down something elusive. Looking closely, you can see how the paint is applied in thick, juicy strokes. The texture is almost sculptural, especially around the figures. There's a real physicality to the medium. See the way the red paint kind of swirls at the base of the image. It creates a sense of movement, maybe even urgency. It’s like the figures are caught in a moment of transition, between beauty and escape, perhaps? It reminds me a little bit of Kokoschka, that same intensity of feeling, that willingness to let the paint speak. Ultimately, though, it’s the ambiguity that makes it so compelling, and the way it invites us to bring our own experiences to the table.