Desire 1927

Mikuláš Galanda made this drawing, Desire, with ink and collage on paper. The drawing is tentative, uncertain; just a few lines describe the form of the head, but the lips are boldly filled in with red. It's like the mouth is the only thing the artist is sure of. And then there's that stark, black shape. What is it? It's so solid compared to the rest of the image. The contrast between the careful, thin lines and the bold, flat shapes is really striking. It's like the artist is thinking through the image as they're making it. Each mark feels very conscious, a decision being made in real-time. My eye keeps going back to the point where the red lips meet the dark shape. There’s a tension there – a meeting point between desire and the unknown. You see this type of figuration in the work of Picasso and Braque. Galanda, like them, seems interested in how we see, and how we make sense of the world through fragmented forms.