Student 1976

Sergiy Grigoriev made "Student" with what looks like oil on canvas. The brushwork is loose, almost casual, like he’s figuring it out as he goes along. I love the way the colours aren’t overworked, each stroke feels like a decision, a small act of discovery. There's something really satisfying about the textures here. See how the brown of the jacket has been scraped back in certain areas, almost like he's using the paint to sculpt the form? And then there's this incredible tension between the flatness of the striped background and the modeled form of the figure, almost as if she is emerging from the stripes. The red marks in the scarf and on the jacket's cuffs are a really nice touch. It reminds me a little of Alice Neel’s portraits – that same directness, that same willingness to let the paint do its thing. It feels very human, very alive. Art's an ongoing experiment, right? No one's got all the answers, which is what makes it so damn interesting.