Untitled 1959

Valerii Lamakh made this untitled painting with oil, and its all about process. I mean, look at those brushstrokes! The material quality here is the star of the show. The paint is thick and juicy, really pushing the boundaries of the medium. I am drawn to the little green strokes, they are kind of the only cool tones in the piece, and so my eye always finds them amongst the warmth of the ochre, reds and browns. I can almost feel the texture just by looking at it. Lamakh wasn't trying to hide the act of painting. Each mark is a record of a decision, a little piece of the artist's process made visible. It reminds me a bit of some of Milton Avery's work, where he’s simplifying forms down to their essence with these bold color choices. But Lamakh is really his own thing, pushing abstraction in a way that feels both intuitive and deliberate. It's like he's having a conversation with the paint, letting it lead him to unexpected places. And that's what makes art so exciting, right? It's not about having all the answers, but about asking the right questions.