Nude 1980

This striking nude by Hryhorii Havrylenko was made sometime in the early 80s. Look at the cross hatching and the dominant palette of red, yellow, and blue! I can imagine the artist applying the lines of color, one by one, and the image emerging almost like a 3D printer. I really sympathize with Havrylenko! He was probably trying to capture something essential, maybe even play with how we see and understand the body. It's so raw, and immediate. It makes me think of Pop Art, or even some of those early modernist sketches where artists were trying to break down form. There’s this incredible tension between the flatness of the colors, the linear structure, and the illusion of volume. The more you look, the more you realize the power of simplicity and the beauty of imperfection. This piece reminds us that art is an ongoing dialogue, a constant push and pull between artists across generations.