Illustration for the collection of short stories by Yevhen Gutsal "In the stork village" 1969

This is Hryhorii Havrylenko’s illustration for Yevhen Gutsalo's "In the Stork Village," and it feels like it could have been made with a ballpoint pen, cross-hatched into a low-relief landscape. The mark-making here is so repetitive it almost feels like a meditative practice. I like how this image uses the most basic marks – straight lines – to evoke a sense of place. The density of the marks creates a texture that's almost palpable, like you could reach out and feel the roughness of the field. The stark contrast between the dark, textured foreground and the light, almost empty sky creates a sense of depth and distance, drawing you into the scene. The trees are like scribbled notes. This kind of reductive mark-making reminds me of Agnes Martin, who could do so much with so little. Ultimately, it's not about what's depicted, but about the feeling the image evokes. It's a reminder that art doesn't have to be complicated to be profound.