Prince 1994

Vasiliy Ryabchenko made this drawing, Prince, using colored pencil. Look at the way the color is scrubbed on, almost like a pastel, to build up the image layer by layer. I think of artmaking as a process with many attempts and adjustments. Here you can see Ryabchenko thinking through the act of image making. There’s something kind of melancholic, even absurd about the picture, the carefully rendered man holding the grassy fronds against a smoky background. He’s placed on a surface patterned in warm reds and browns, while the phallic form on wheels is drawn with a sharp, almost obsessive intensity. The overall effect is dreamy and unsettling. The mark making describes something that is both representational and deeply felt. Maybe it reminds me a bit of Magritte, but with more heart. Like all good art, it raises more questions than it answers.