Drawing from the Shelter on Semashko Street 2022

Danil Nemirovsky made this drawing in 2022, while in a shelter on Semashko Street, using red pen on paper. It’s a beautiful, quick, and intimate way of seeing. I love the rawness of the red ink, scratchy and immediate, capturing the scene with an incredible efficiency, while the vulnerability of the people sharing a space is captured in these rapid lines, hatching and cross-hatching, describing light and shadow. Look at the way the hatch marks describe the volume of the figures and the folds in their clothing. Each line is a decision, a mark of observation and interpretation. The lack of shading or color creates an immediate emotional experience, a sense of urgency and immediacy. It reminds me of the work of artists like Philip Guston, whose drawings share a similar quality of directness and emotional intensity. Art's about making a mark and seeing where it leads. It's a process of discovery.