Trees 1975

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this drawing of trees, probably with ink or pencil, at some point in the past. It looks like he was trying to capture something about the forest, about the way the trees reach up, but in such an intimate way. I find myself thinking about what it was like to be Havrylenko, sitting there with his paper and pen, trying to make sense of what he saw. There's something so human about that impulse to record, to translate the world into marks on a surface. I imagine him making each stroke with care. Look at how he made this drawing and how the artist lets his lines define and give life to the trees. The trunks are thin, but the crowns are full of flowing contours. As an artist myself, I understand this process as a conversation with the subject. Each tree, a unique character in the story. There is a sense of exchange between artists across time, where ideas and approaches are constantly being reinvented. Even in its simplicity, this drawing is complex. It leaves me curious about how it relates to other artists’ treatment of landscape and line.