Games with characters 1993

Vasiliy Ryabchenko made "Games with characters" with pencil and what looks like pastel, in a way that feels like the characters are emerging through touch. Look at the way the lines are made, they are scrawly, full of energy, almost like automatic drawing. It’s not trying to be hyper-realistic, instead you get a real sense of a hand at work, feeling around for the figures, the lines are searching for an image as though it is being remembered, or dreamed. I love the way Ryabchenko’s kept those wandering lines visible, how there is an energy to the making. The color is muted, almost sepia-toned, and it’s all about texture. See the scribbled, shaded areas with dark charcoal, set against areas with almost no mark at all. Ryabchenko is an Ukranian artist, and it is hard not to see echoes of artists like Goya in this dreamlike, haunting work.