Troika 1992

Oleg Holosiy made this painting, Troika, with what looks like oil paint, and with a real urgency of mark-making. Holosiy’s got this fantastic way of smearing and building up the paint, so the whole thing feels like it’s in motion, a process caught in time. Check out the texture, the way the blue of the sky is scumbled with the white of the clouds. There’s a real physicality to it. And the horses! They're not just figures, they're these powerful, dark masses, almost like a force of nature, rendered with the most economical brushstrokes. Look at how the horses hooves are barely touching the ground, which brings this impression of relentless speed and the inevitability of movement. It reminds me a bit of Franz Marc, that same sense of animals embodying some kind of raw, untamed energy. Ultimately, the beauty of painting lies in its capacity for ambiguity, inviting us to see and feel in ways that are always open, always evolving.