Painting She Who Drinks Oil, artist Oleksandr Yatsenko

• Artist: Oleksandr Yatsenko
• Title: "She Who Drinks Oil"
• Year: 2017
• Size: 140 × 90 cm
• Materials: oil and acrylic on canvas
• Original hand-painted artwork

"She Who Drinks Oil" is a horizontal composition in which an abstract background merges with enigmatic figurative images. The whole canvas is filled with wavy bands that bend like layers of rock, a slice of agate or rainbow-coloured oil slicks on water. Scattered over them are islands of bright green with ragged edges, resembling scraps of land or leaves drifting with the current. In the centre a large figure emerges, assembled from small square cells as if from pixels or mosaic smalt: its outlines suggest a reclining body. In the upper part, on a green field, a white silhouette stands out, resembling a fish with a finned tail and a thin curved appendage ending in a round "lantern". The images flow into one another, and viewers build the connections between them for themselves.

The work is painted in oil and acrylic on canvas, and the artist uses several techniques at once. The wavy bands of the background are laid down as separate raised lines, each standing slightly above the surface. The green islands are painted with a dense, grainy paste whose texture recalls moss or a sponge. The mosaic figure is built from neat squares of different shades separated by thin light seams, while the white silhouette is entirely filled with tiny pointillist dots in pearly, pink and turquoise tones. The combination of rough relief texture and almost jewel-like detail makes the surface lively and rewarding to examine up close. The artist's signature "Яценко О." is in the lower right corner.

The colour scheme is hot and saturated: crimson, burgundy, red and violet alternate with turquoise and dark blue veins. Acid-green patches create a sharp contrast with the red-violet background, and the white silhouette becomes the lightest point of the composition, drawing the eye. The mood of the work is both unsettling and mesmerising: the bright, almost psychedelic pattern conceals a reflection on humans and the resources they consume. Dark blue, almost black veins running through the red layers recall the oil itself and give the composition depth.

Oleksandr Yatsenko is a contemporary Ukrainian painter, born in 1980 in Cherkasy, who lives and works in Kyiv and graduated from the painting faculty of the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture. His personal style is built on the contrast between dense, textured painting and fine detailing reminiscent of graphic drawing or openwork ornament. Among the artist's key themes are human self-identification and the interaction between the natural and technogenic worlds, and this painting speaks directly to them.

The horizontal 140 × 90 cm format makes the work a natural focal point for a living room, study or loft. Its bright colours come into their own against a neutral backdrop — white, light grey or concrete walls — while emerald and crimson textiles in the room will pick up the painting's palette. The work also suits the office of a creative team or a meeting room where bold, memorable painting is called for. It will make a good gift for a man or a business partner who appreciates contemporary art with a sharp social undertone.