Raising Banner 2014

Curator: This is "Raising Banner," an oil on canvas created in 2014 by Alexander Roitburd. It's a powerful and somewhat unsettling work. Editor: Unsettling is right. The thick, almost crude application of the paint creates a feeling of intense struggle. It looks like it was a physical battle just to get the paint onto the canvas. Curator: Roitburd's Expressionist style certainly emphasizes emotional impact. Looking at the history of conflict in Ukraine, one can't help but consider it as a commentary on the socio-political strife. The anonymous figure, almost golden, seems weighed down. Editor: Absolutely. And the material weight translates directly to the emotional weight felt by the figure. It’s not just visual, but visceral. I keep thinking about what kind of labor was required to build the supports and prepare the paint that enabled such raw expression. Curator: It’s interesting you mention labor. Consider the historical paintings that romanticized warfare, presenting leaders as heroes. Here, Roitburd subverts that. There’s nothing glorious here, only exhaustion and what feels like the crushing burden of history. Editor: Right. There's a focus on the individual exertion, the physicality of resistance perhaps. Even the flag seems heavy, almost a dead weight. The materiality screams against any heroic reading. Curator: I agree. The darkness pressing in around the figure further isolates them. It transforms what might be a symbol of triumph—raising a banner—into something fraught with tension and despair. The painting, viewed within a wider socio-political history of art, clearly chooses the darker, more human perspective. Editor: A powerful demonstration of how the choices made in process and material can shape a work to counter official narratives. It really stays with you. Curator: Indeed, it compels us to consider not just what is being raised, but at what cost and to what end. Editor: Precisely. Art at its best forces us to reconsider ingrained assumptions.