Female image. Sketch 1975

This sketch of a female image was made by Hryhorii Havrylenko, and it's like a whisper of a face, captured with the barest of means. The economy of line suggests the practice of continual distillation; artmaking as a process of reduction. There's a raw, vulnerable quality to it, partly because of the medium, just ink on paper. You can almost see the artist's hand moving, hesitating, deciding what's essential. Notice how the line describing the cheek isn't a smooth curve, but a series of tiny, almost imperceptible shifts in direction, mirroring the complex and subtle topography of the face itself. It's a wonderful metaphor for the act of perception, suggesting that seeing isn't a passive act, but an active process of exploration and discovery. The drawing reminds me of Matisse, especially his line drawings. I think it embraces the beauty of simplicity and the power of suggestion over explicit statement.