Сliffs at Port Gulfar 2010

This painting by Alexander Roitburd, titled "Cliffs at Port Gulfar," presents this odd couple rendered in what looks like oil paint. The surface has a kind of tactile quality, but what's most striking is how the artist plays with light and shadow. The colours are earthy, like looking at a landscape through a sepia-toned filter. The paint is applied with visible brushstrokes, but with a delicacy that keeps the overall effect soft and dreamlike. You can almost feel the texture of the rocks, the scales of the lizard, and the softness of the woman's skin. The mark-making is quite considered, and yet, there's also a looseness that gives the painting a sense of spontaneity. Roitburd's work often mixes the personal with the political, and you can see influences from Neo-Expressionism. The tension between the painterly application of the paint and the surreal subject matter reminds me a little of Philip Guston – a sense of humor, and a willingness to embrace ambiguity. Ultimately, this is a painting that invites you to linger and ask questions, because art is a conversation, after all.