Girl with a Violin 1991

Curator: This is Oleg Holosiy’s "Girl with a Violin," painted in 1991. Editor: Immediately, I'm struck by the tension, right? This beautiful instrument so close to the ravages of the ocean... There’s something haunting about it. It’s a beautiful but perilous composition. Curator: Holosiy often incorporated somewhat jarring juxtapositions in his work. He uses the loose, almost gestural brushwork typical of plein-air painting, which in itself connects with the more traditionally romantic ideas surrounding art making. Oil paint as material allows a luminosity of skin, water and air – things also in danger. Editor: Precisely, and it makes you think about labor. To see her ankle-deep in water… who *is* she? Is she a working musician? What kind of transaction will occur after? Or before? Or none at all? We have very deliberately not only art meeting not-art, but different spheres and socioeconomic classes coming together through an art object. I see a transaction on some level, however unequal. Curator: You raise interesting points, as it does look staged, doesn’t it? Is she playing for the ocean? Or, more practically, perhaps Holosiy sought out this interaction… a model with a violin on a Black Sea beach. A complex collaboration occurred whether he recorded it, set it up, or merely bore witness. Editor: That feels right, it is not something stumbled upon but clearly made and decided, down to her period swimsuit and the ocean’s material itself nearly obliterating her labor. Is it commentary, statement, an experience or perhaps just another day in the life? Holosiy seems to say. Curator: Absolutely. Ultimately, that question might be the most compelling aspect of "Girl with a Violin." Editor: Agreed, its enigma, and that push-pull dynamic – that's what truly lingers with me.