Пляж 1977

Vasiliy Ryabchenko made "Пляж" with paint, probably in his studio, and the making looks like it was a real process. The way he’s slapped on these blues and whites, it's less about representation and more about the physicality of paint, you know? The paint is pretty thin, almost watery in places, but then you get these areas where it’s built up, like around the abstract figure on the right. That figure! It’s like a tangle of limbs and branches, rendered in reddish-brown strokes that feel both urgent and playful. Look closely, and you can see how he’s let the paint drip and bleed, embracing the messiness of the medium. For me, this work is like a love letter to the act of painting itself. Like Philip Guston, Ryabchenko shows us that art doesn't always have to be pretty. It can be raw, awkward, and totally unresolved.