Like Bible 2022

Kateryna Lysovenko made this painting, "Like Bible", with bold brushstrokes of blue, brown and white oils across the canvas. I imagine the artist stepping back, squinting, adding a touch of blue here, a dab of brown there, constantly adjusting, editing, and refining until the figure emerges from the ground. I wonder if Lysovenko was thinking about early Renaissance paintings, those somber Madonnas, when she was making this? The brown pigment is thickly applied to the base of the tree, and the edge of the rock, giving it an almost sculptural presence. See how that singular gesture of white paint suggests a distant sun or moon? It’s as if Lysovenko is in conversation with artists who have come before her. For me, painting is like being in a band - you are bouncing off each other, riffing and jamming, and finding something new in the process.