Mykhailivske. Diptych 1982

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this diptych called Mykhailivske using who knows what - maybe silkscreen or some kind of printmaking magic? The image is made of blocks of shifting planes and colors—greens, yellows, and blues. Looking at it, I imagine Gavrylenko layering shapes, each pass a new idea, a new decision. It's like a landscape trying to find itself, each color helping to define a place where the sky meets the earth. Maybe he was thinking about how memory works, piecing together fragments to form a whole. I see the influence of folk art with its flattened perspective and bold colors. But there's also something very modern about the way he's broken down the landscape into these essential elements. Like other artists, he is asking what is the simplest, most direct way to convey an experience? To evoke a sense of place? It feels like an open invitation, an ongoing exchange of ideas across time.