Matka 1937

Mikuláš Galanda made this ink drawing, Matka, around 1938. The shapes are bound by confident black lines, the colours are bright and bold. I wonder, did he lay down the lines first? Or add them at the end? I feel a kinship with Galanda. He’s feeling his way through figuration but pulls back from realism. I bet he sees the history of painting, and the trap of representation. Like, how do you make an image of a mother, without just, you know, *copying* a mother? How can you paint the *idea* of ‘mother’? Look how the hands rest on the belly, it is such a gentle image. And the face in profile, with those black stripes for hair, and that perfect red circle for a cheek. It’s as if Galanda is saying ‘I am painting what I feel, what I remember’. We are all in conversation with each other, across time, and place, inspiring one another’s creativity.