Seated young man (study to "Father Time") 1927

David Burliuk made this study of a seated young man in 1927, and he used watercolor, gouache, and charcoal on paper. Look at the way he’s built up the form with these intense marks, and the colors like reds and blues that flash out against earth tones. I can imagine Burliuk working on this study, trying to find the right pose, the right feel. There's a real sense of searching here. You know, that thing where you don't know what you are doing? What was he thinking as he worked? Was he trying to capture a certain vitality, or was he just interested in the interplay of light and shadow on the figure? I like how the lines are blurred, the colors bleeding into each other, and the quick gestures that give the figure a real sense of immediacy. The artist seems engaged in an open-ended inquiry with the medium itself. And for me, that's where the magic happens – when artists let go of the need to control every aspect of the work and allow the medium to speak for itself. It's like they're in conversation with each other, trading ideas and inspiring new directions.