From the Series 'Substitution' 2020

Editor: This is "From the Series 'Substitution'," a 2020 painting by Kateryna Lysovenko, made with acrylics. The first thing I notice is the slightly surreal juxtaposition of a human-like figure with the head of a sheep; it's really evocative. How do you see it? Curator: What stands out to me is how Lysovenko utilizes the physical properties of acrylic paint – its ability to create flat, opaque layers – to construct this unsettling image. The blurring of the human and animal suggests the construction of identity, not just for the individual, but on the production of ‘nature’ in society. Is the substitution about animal labor and what it provides? Or maybe something else? Editor: That's interesting, I hadn't thought about the flatness contributing to a constructed feel. So, the medium reinforces the theme? Curator: Precisely. Think about where acrylic paint comes from - industrial processes, petrochemicals. Its very existence points to the human manipulation of resources, paralleling how the painting merges human and animal forms. Are they truly separate categories, or are those categories actively made, bought and sold? Editor: I guess that forces you to think about how our material world is constantly being manufactured. Does Lysovenko's choice of the sheep carry any symbolic weight regarding its relationship to textiles or meat industries? Curator: Absolutely. Consider how historically sheep have been commodities – sources of wool, meat, labor. By placing a sheep-headed figure in a domestic setting, in manufactured clothes sitting on a manufactured chair, Lysovenko asks us to confront the entanglement of living beings with systems of production and consumption. Editor: That gives me a lot to think about in terms of how we produce identities through the materials that surround us. Thanks. Curator: It's been insightful discussing how materiality, process, and socio-economic structures interact within the artwork.