Marat’s Death 2010

Vasiliy Ryabchenko made this large oil on canvas painting called ‘Marat’s Death’, and I can only imagine the act of painting it, the push and pull, the shifting and emerging forms. I can sympathize with Ryabchenko here: that feeling when you're wrestling with the image, trying to pin down something slippery and elusive. All that blue! That red form hanging in the sky. Is that even a sky? The paint doesn't look too thick, but there are so many layers. The figures are rendered with such speed and grace, like a memory half-formed. I am drawn to the figure on the right. It puts me in mind of other painters, like Francis Picabia, who were unafraid to mix it up, to throw everything at the canvas and see what sticks. There's a real conversation happening across time, with artists riffing off each other, inspiring each other to push further, dig deeper. Painting is an exchange of ideas, not about fixed meanings but about the ongoing process of seeing and feeling.