Kovnirovsky building (Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra) 1970

Yuriy Khymych made this painting of the Kovnirovsky building at Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra using oil on cardboard. Look at the way Khymych approached the cardboard, with such a light touch and what feels like a restricted palette. It’s a testament to what you can do when you resist the urge to overwork a surface. The oil paint has a lovely chalky flatness, which creates an almost fresco-like effect, the blue outlines popping against the beige facade, giving the building a cartoonish quality, as if it could have been lifted straight from the pages of a children’s book. The bare trees in the foreground look as though they’ve been quickly sketched in using a thick felt-tip pen. It’s a very different approach to mark making, compared to the rest of the work. I love the way Khymych fearlessly juxtaposes these different styles, without worrying too much about whether they 'gel'. This reminds me of the work of Lois Dodd, who also painted buildings and landscapes in a similarly unassuming way. For both artists, the painting isn't about the thing itself, but about what can happen *during* the act of painting.