Mermaid 1989

Oleg Holosiy made this Mermaid painting, we're not sure exactly when, but it feels like an outpouring of something urgent. The surface texture is amazing; Holosiy works thin layers of oil paint, scumbling to suggest movement of the water and luminosity of skin. Look at the way he has defined the body of the mermaid - not with sharp lines but through tonal variations and loose brushwork. It's all about how he models the form with light and shadow. The painting feels both dreamlike and immediate. See the pool in the lower right corner of the painting, the way that little square is filled with gold squiggles, like a cartoon of the water reflecting light? It reminds me of Sigmar Polke's paintings, where he brings a sort of wry humor to his process. Holosiy died so young, in his twenties. It's fascinating to consider how painting, with its inherent ambiguities, can keep evolving and taking on new meanings.