Black Apes 1989

Arsen Savadov made this painting, “Black Apes,” with a real mixed-bag approach to image-making. I mean, it’s like he's throwing different picture styles at the canvas and just seeing what sticks! The materiality of this work is so interesting. The juxtaposition of thin, transparent washes with areas of thick, almost sculptural paint creates a super dynamic surface. There's this one spot, a drip of blue near the top of the painting, that pulls my eye right down into the creamy texture of the seashell below, like a kind of drain. That drippy blue is a nice counterpoint to the illustrative monkey drawings. It reminds me a little of Sigmar Polke in the way it embraces randomness and accident. Ultimately, Savadov's painting feels like an ongoing experiment, a way of seeing the world that’s constantly in flux and open to surprise.