Trinity 1980

Vudon Baklytsky painted "Trinity" with oil on canvas. It’s an intriguing combination of traditional materials and modernist style. The canvas support, a textile woven on a loom, gives the painting its inherent texture. The application of oil paint, painstakingly built up in small dabs, has a weight and body which conveys the artist’s labor. The process here is crucial. Layer upon layer of pigment was slowly deposited to yield the final image. Baklytsky draws on skilled traditions of painting, and the high art of the early 20th century. Yet the social context in which he worked – the Soviet Union – was worlds away from Parisian bohemia. "Trinity" bears witness to the complicated negotiation that artists in that setting had with official expectations. The simple materials, traditional methods, and historical context are critical to understanding the full meaning of the work, and challenge our assumptions about art and craft.