Roitburd VS Caravaggio. Opus # 008 2009

Alexander Roitburd made this oil on canvas called ‘Roitburd VS Caravaggio. Opus # 008’, and it’s a kind of conversation between two artists, across time, with paint. It’s all about process here. You see that ground of dark paint—it's like a stage for something about to happen, and then the figures emerging out of the darkness feel classical, but then there’s this added layer of colourful lines and geometric shapes that seem to float on top. Look at the surface of the figures, there is this tension between the detailed modeling of the figures and the almost cartoonish rendering of the lines. I wonder how that one mark that drips down off the pale shape to the left was made, and how it relates to the drips on the figures to the right? For me the shapes and lines add a layer of visual energy, like the painting is still being constructed, or deconstructed even. Roitburd seems to be talking to other artists, like maybe Francis Picabia, who was also interested in the way classical techniques can be disrupted by more modern approaches. It's all about not being afraid to mix it up, you know?