Forrest 1975

Hryhorii Havrylenko made "Forrest" with oil paint, and seeing all those strokes next to each other makes me think of how the painting came into being, bit by bit. I imagine Havrylenko standing in front of the canvas, maybe squinting a little as he looks out at this vista. You know? Havrylenko is laying down stroke after stroke in these muted greens and blues, and each one is a little observation, a little thought. The paint looks like it's been applied pretty thinly, and there's a real sense of light filtering through the trees, all the way to the horizon. It's quiet, it's thoughtful, and it's like he's trying to capture a feeling more than a photographic image. This is a painter in conversation with so many other painters across time. It's a reminder that artists are always building on what came before, each one adding their own little piece to the puzzle. Ultimately, the real magic of painting is how it embraces this ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing us to see and feel so many different things all at once.