Female image 1975

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this female image, at an unknown date, with what looks like a simple black marker on paper. It’s like he's thinking through seeing, a kind of visual meditation with the marker. I really love the quality of the line here, it’s so clear and economical. The way the mouth is rendered with just a few strokes, how the eyebrows arch, and the simple but direct gaze... These elements capture a presence, an essence. I can almost feel the movement of his hand as he worked, the slight variations in pressure creating a line that's both confident and tentative. There's something about the way he uses the negative space, too. Those abstract shapes surrounding the figure seem to float and push forward at the same time. You might think of Alex Katz and his pared-down portraits, or even Matisse's line drawings, but this has a raw, personal quality that feels really distinct. Ultimately, it’s the kind of art that reminds us that seeing and feeling are inseparable.