Girl on the Palette 2017

Curator: Arsen Savadov's oil painting from 2017, titled "Girl on the Palette", really makes you stop in your tracks, doesn’t it? Editor: It’s dreamlike, yet… unsettling. The textures are amazing, especially the impasto paint that looks almost sculpted. The overall impact gives the feeling of the artificial infiltrating the natural world. Curator: Savadov is known for his large-scale works. Consider how the layering of paint creates depth, not just illusionistically, but as a tactile record of its making. Think about the physicality involved, and the work invested in conveying this vision. Editor: It speaks volumes about beauty standards in our social construct and the objectification of the female body. Look at how the reclining nude merges with the art materials on the palette; is she surrendering her individual agency, literally becoming the art? Curator: Exactly. Also note that each component, even that random chair, is constructed from paint, processed, and shaped to convey texture and luminosity. It’s not merely representational; it embodies the very act of making. What kind of labour goes into rendering this image? Editor: We should explore how these unsettling aspects contribute to the painting’s social commentary. The classical allusion through the female form seems disrupted by surreal modern elements like the floating palette and furniture, reflecting an ongoing critique of conventional narratives in art history. It demands an ongoing reflection of who is allowed to rest? And at what price. Curator: Definitely. Savadov’s choices here of brushstroke and pigment directly challenge any assumption of innate perfection. This speaks to larger issues in art production itself, such as the labour required, but also who holds the brush. Editor: This feels less like an assertion of beauty and more of an investigation of the labour that is put into something that presents as beautiful on its face. So powerful. Curator: Absolutely. It gives us insight not just into this painting but, perhaps more broadly, on art production as material labor. Editor: Ultimately, Savadov compels us to ponder the ongoing dialogues around how women, labor, and culture intersect, overlap, and ultimately diverge.