Fish 1970

Valentin Khrushch made this painting, Fish, presumably with paint and a brush. The overall palette is subdued, mossy, and watery, with a few bright dabs of white, yellow and blue that catch your eye. It makes me think of the process of painting, or how a painter might consider the layering of colours. Looking closely, I see how the fish are not depicted realistically; they’re more like ghostly impressions, or perhaps memories, suspended in the green space of the painting. There is the ghost of a single vertical line that runs down the painting, suggesting the edge of something, a wall maybe. The surfaces of the fish are marked by these fibrous lines which pull away at the image and give it texture. The work evokes the spirit of artists like Antoni Tàpies, with a similarly earthy palette and a focus on texture and materiality. This painting, like all paintings, is a testament to the endless possibilities of seeing and thinking through art.