Portrait of I. Korovets 1931

Oleksa Novakivskyi painted this portrait of I. Korovets with oil on canvas, though we're unsure exactly when. The brushwork seems pretty fast and intuitive, like Novakivskyi was really in the moment, responding to what he saw and felt. Check out how he built up the face with layers of thin, translucent paint. It's almost like he was sculpting with color, letting the light and shadow define the form. And the background, oh my, it's a whole other world! It's like an abstract painting hiding behind a portrait. There's this one little dab of crimson right above Korovets' head that keeps catching my eye. It's such a small detail, but it adds so much energy to the whole composition. I'm reminded of the way that Van Gogh used color to express emotion, so perhaps he was an influence for Novakivskyi. Ultimately, art is a conversation, right? It's all about finding your own voice, one brushstroke at a time.