On the Rivers of Babylon 2012

Alexander Roitburd painted this, ‘On the Rivers of Babylon,’ with oil on canvas, and it’s just delicious, isn’t it? Roitburd's got this way of loading up the paint, not quite impasto, but there’s definitely a physicality there that draws you in. I love seeing that evidence of process; for me art making is a verb, not a noun. Look at the way the paint sort of gloops and gathers on the figures, especially around the shoulders of the woman standing on the other's back, it's really expressive. And then that lurid color palette! The greens, yellows and reds against the inky blue background; it's like a weird dream. For me, this painting's got a real kinship with Philip Guston. Same dark humour. Same willingness to embrace the absurd and the messy. Ultimately, this painting revels in the pleasure of not knowing.