Deterrence 1988

Vasiliy Ryabchenko's "Deterrence" is a painting made with oils, and it feels like a study in how much you can say with very little. The background is this kind of hazy, greyish blue, almost like a dream. The shapes of the cats are built from these quick, confident strokes, like the artist is thinking through the paint. What’s so great is how the textures become the forms, look at the cat on the left, the red bleeding into the white of its belly, it feels like the paint itself is shaping the animal. Ryabchenko reminds me a bit of Franz Marc in the way he simplifies form to create a raw, emotive impact. It makes you realize art is always a conversation, a back-and-forth between artists across time, each adding their own spin to how we see and feel the world. And in the end, it's all about finding your own way to say something real.