Roitburd VS Caravaggio. Opus # 003 2009

This is Alexander Roitburd’s ‘Roitburd VS Caravaggio. Opus # 003’, and it looks like it was made with oil paint. The underpainting is very Caravaggio, chiaroscuro, theatrical, but then it’s overlaid with these very contemporary, almost pop-art-like gestures. I think Roitburd is having a conversation with the history of art, and with himself. Look at the white lines on the lower right. See how they're almost tentative, like a doodle? I love the way they seem to be mapping out something, or maybe just marking a space. It’s this strange combination of the studied and the spontaneous, and that’s where I find the painting really comes alive. It reminds me of Francis Picabia's late paintings, that same sense of irreverence, of not taking things too seriously. This painting knows that art is an ongoing process. It’s not about answers, but about questions.