Curatorial notes
Volodymyr Bondarenko made this oil painting of a nude, and the blues and browns create a somber mood, as if he’s working from memory rather than direct observation. Look at the way the paint is scrubbed into the canvas, thin in places, revealing the weave of the fabric, thicker in others. The mirror on the left is less about reflection and more about the materiality of the painting – how the light catches the surface, the graininess of the pigment. It reminds me of Bonnard’s interiors, where the space becomes compressed, and the figures dissolve into the pattern. Notice the area between the figure's arm and the bed, where the brown fades into the dark background. This feels like an excavation, the color built up in layers like sediment. For Bondarenko, painting isn’t about capturing a likeness, it’s about a process of discovery, a conversation between the artist and the canvas, where meaning emerges through the act of making. It’s not about answers, but about the questions that arise in the process.
