Ukrainian 1958

This watercolour, "Ukrainian," was made by Hryhorii Havrylenko, and look at the way he works those wet washes! The face is just so gently built up out of translucent layers of colour and line, those watercolour bleeds giving it all the emotion and drama. Then you've got these geometric shapes floating around that could be a textile design, or some kind of symbolic pattern. It's like he's trying to capture not just what she looks like, but also something about her culture and her inner life. I’m drawn to that dark diagonal mark coming down from her shoulder. How does it act as a counterweight to the face? This mark, seemingly dashed off in a moment, anchors the whole composition. It reminds us that painting isn’t just about rendering something realistically, it’s about feeling your way through the process. Looking at the energy of the work, I can't help but think of Marlene Dumas. It's that similar sense of directness and intimacy. Like Dumas, Havrylenko shows us that art is about asking questions, not giving answers.