Female figure with a raised hand 1988

Oleg Holosiy made this painting of a female figure with a raised hand, but when? I love the way the painting seems to emerge from the darkness! There's a real sense of the artist searching for the form, building it up with these broad, expressive strokes. The palette is quite restrained – mostly dark greens and browns, but with these flashes of white that give it a real energy. I imagine Holosiy working quickly, intuitively, almost like he’s wrestling the image out of the paint. The texture is so important here; you can almost feel the bristles of the brush dragging across the canvas. The way the white paint is scumbled over the darker layers – it’s like a release, a way of letting light into the picture. It reminds me a bit of some of the early abstract expressionists, but with a figurative twist. But, painting is always a conversation, right? We learn from each other across time, remixing and reinterpreting. For me, paintings are never really finished anyway. They’re always open to new readings, new possibilities.