The Dream of Caravaggio 1989

Oleg Holosiy made this painting, The Dream of Caravaggio, sometime before 1993, in what looks like oil on canvas. Holosiy's mark-making feels feverish; these aren't timid, careful strokes, but a kind of all-over outpouring. The colors are muted, almost sepia-toned, like a faded photograph or an old master painting— appropriate, given the title. There's a real push-pull between figuration and abstraction here. You can make out faces and forms, but they dissolve into a sea of textures and tangled lines. The paint application is pretty physical, almost like he's sculpting the surface. The lines are scratched into the surface with a dry brush, creating a sense of movement and instability. Holosiy reminds me a little of some of the early work by Anselm Kiefer. There's a similar sense of grappling with history and memory, a willingness to embrace roughness and ambiguity. Ultimately, I find myself drawn to its raw energy and emotional intensity.