Kyiv Diary 2014

Vlada Ralko made this watercolor painting, Kyiv Diary, using paper and layered washes. I love the controlled chaos here. The way the colors bleed, it’s a real testament to the artist surrendering to the medium and letting it do its thing. Look at the masked figure, holding a Molotov cocktail in one hand and what looks like an eclair in the other! The pinkish wash of the flames echoes the eclair, this really gets me thinking about contrast. There's something unsettling and yet very human about this juxtaposition of violence and snack. The black marker outlines give the piece a graphic, almost cartoonish edge. Ralko's work reminds me of Philip Guston, who used a similar simplified, almost clumsy style to engage with difficult subjects. Like Guston, Ralko isn't afraid to embrace awkwardness and ambiguity. It's a painting that asks more questions than it answers, and that, to me, is what makes it so compelling.