Annunciation 1931

Oleksa Novakivskyi created this ‘Annunciation’ with oil paints and a bold colour palette, building up the image through layers of brushstrokes. You can almost feel the artist at work, shifting things around, responding to the colours and shapes as they emerge. I imagine Novakivskyi stepping back, squinting, and then leaning in again to make his mark. There's this verticality to the composition, these bands of color running up and down which create the feeling of stained glass. I especially love the angel's wing, rendered as a pink, almost fleshy form. It’s as though the painting is in conversation with the spiritual and the physical realms. Painters are always in dialogue, borrowing, reacting, and innovating. Novakivskyi’s interest in the material qualities of paint relates to a bigger conversation that’s been going on for centuries. And that’s what’s so exciting, right? We all inspire one another, creating something new out of what came before.