Abstract Composition (Female Image) 1962

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this drawing, Abstract Composition (Female Image), in 1962 with what looks like ink on paper. There are these hatching marks in the background, like anxious energy surrounding the figure. Havrylenko’s searching lines create a kind of ghost-like presence, hovering between abstraction and figuration. I wonder, was he thinking of Picasso or maybe even Paul Klee while he worked on this? The artist seems to have been trying to find the image. He’s almost scribbling, trying to find the form, like he's trying to find something that's not quite there, but maybe he is, or she is. The bold and delicate lines that define the figure give it a really distinctive character. Artists are always in conversation, riffing off each other’s ideas across time. It's a back-and-forth that keeps us all going. We make things, we look at things, and we make more things.