Hollywood 1992

If you could travel to any city in the world, which would you choose? In this oil painting from 1992, the Ukrainian artist Oleg Holosiy (1965-1993) transports us to the entertainment capital of the USA: Hollywood in Los Angeles. The Californian neighbourhood is sometimes known as Tinseltown due to its ties to the United States film industry. It’s home to a huge number of famous film studios as well as actors. The painting makes use of a restricted colour palette – just black, grey, and white. These cold tones remind me of early photographs and black-and-white television. Even the shape of the cars seems reminiscent of 1950s Hollywood movies. Holosiy has included pure white shades to highlight the beaming streetlights and headlamps. The oil paint has been smudged to create a sense of energy and dynamism. Blurred yet visible brushstrokes are a common feature of the Neo-Expressionist style. This movement emerged in the late 1970s as a response to the rapid developments of a postmodern world. Oleg Holosiy belonged to the Ukrainian New Wave, a collective of artists formed in a squat in Kyiv. He never left the country, yet saw images of the United States on television. His painterly interpretations of American cities often feel slightly haunting, as if he is painting lost eras and forgotten memories.