Composition 1974

This ‘Composition’ was made by Hryhorii Havrylenko at some point in the 20th century, probably with paint on paper. What strikes me is how immediate this feels; the simplicity and directness of form and colour. It’s a great lesson in how artmaking is about process. The surface of this artwork is so beautiful, it looks almost velvety, and I imagine that this is achieved through multiple layers of thin paint or ink. The orange really pops against the blue, and that horizontal line of red grounds the composition. It makes me think of a landscape, but who knows? Look closely and you’ll see how the edges of the shapes are not perfectly crisp, but have a soft, fuzzy quality. The colour saturation is also not uniform, and this all adds to the feeling of it being handmade, which is cool. This piece resonates with the work of painters like Milton Avery, in its use of simplified forms and blocks of colour to evoke a sense of place or mood.