Female image 1975

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this drawing of a woman with ink on paper, and the date is unknown. The whole thing is built up from these tiny, repetitive marks, almost like he’s knitting the image into existence. Look at the way the cross-hatching becomes denser to create shadows, giving form to her face and clothing, and how the background buzzes with a similar energy. The marks are not precise, or clean. Up close, you can see these little imperfections, moments where the pen maybe stuttered or skipped. I love that; it’s like seeing the artist's hand, his process, right there on the surface. It makes the image feel alive, like it’s still in the process of becoming. The hair, a dark mass of chaotic lines, contrasts with the smoother, blanker space of the face. You know who this reminds me of? Alfred Kubin. That same kind of obsessive mark-making, that same feeling of unease, like the image is about to dissolve into pure abstraction. It’s a reminder that art isn't about perfect representation. It's about the energy, the feeling, the process itself.