Untitled 1967

Vilen Barsky made this painting using ink, and I bet it involved lots of water. See how the ink bleeds and pools, creating these ghostly forms? It's like he let the medium lead the way, embracing chance. I imagine Barsky hunched over this piece, coaxing the ink, maybe tilting the paper this way and that. What did he see in those initial marks? Faces? Landscapes? He may have been lost in thought, letting the ink mirror his inner world. The texture alone feels compelling. That dark, inky border is so decisive; it contains all the haziness, right? It reminds me of some of Goya's darker works. These artists were in conversation, even if separated by time. Painting lets us see things in new ways. It’s not about perfection but feeling.