Landscape 1959

Valerii Lamakh laid down these greens, blues, and browns in thick strokes of oil paint to create this landscape, but what landscape exactly? I imagine him outside, squinting, trying to capture the essence of a place rather than its precise details. Look at the vertical thrusts of green. They could be trees, or maybe just the feeling of upward growth and light filtering through leaves. It's more of an emotional map than a topographical one. That dark area at the top, like a solid mass, anchors the whole composition, but the real action is in the foreground. The way those strokes of paint sit on the surface, all juicy and present, reminds me of Fairfield Porter, who was also interested in the here and now of seeing and painting. It's like Lamakh is saying, “This is how I see, this is how I feel, and this is what it looks like when I try to put it all down on canvas."