Composition 1964

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this watercolour, Composition, at an unknown date. Looking at it is like tuning into someone else's frequency; it’s an arrangement of blocks, pale greens, blues and ochres, held together by lines like leading in stained glass. The paint feels thin, like a wash, soaking into the paper. In the top left, the paper appears almost raw, the pigment barely clinging to the surface. The lines are crucial; they not only define the shapes but also create a sense of depth and structure. Notice how they vary in thickness and intensity, hinting at an underlying armature. These darker blue lines seem to anchor the composition. They remind me of the bold outlines in Philip Guston’s late work, especially in their cartoonish bluntness. It feels like a playful experiment, a formal exercise using simple shapes and colours to evoke a landscape, or perhaps, a feeling. The way the colours bleed and merge, it invites a multitude of interpretations.