Diver 1993

Vasiliy Ryabchenko made this drawing, Diver, using pencils. Looking at all the whirling lines on the page, I think of how much a drawing can be a record of thought and time. The energy it takes to make all those marks! You can see how Ryabchenko built up the image with layers of hatching, creating dark, dense areas that contrast with the lighter, more open spaces. The swirling shapes at the top could be clouds or waves, it’s hard to tell, but they feel kind of turbulent. I love the way the artist uses these scribbled lines, the nervous energy of the hand is visible, the materiality of the pencil so present. It almost feels as if it’s a dreamscape emerging from the depths of the artist’s imagination. So much of art is this mysterious process of internal exploration.