On the cliff 1950

Kateryna Bilokur made this pencil drawing of a landscape called 'On the Cliff', at some point in her career. What I love about pencil drawings is how direct they are, it's like seeing an artist's thoughts laid bare on paper, all those tiny marks and adjustments visible on the surface. There's something incredibly delicate and alive about the way Bilokur renders the texture of the land meeting the sky. The soft smudging of the pencil creates a hazy atmosphere, blurring the line between what's solid and what's ephemeral. It feels like you could reach out and touch the air, like the world is breathing right there on the page. Look closely at the long grass closest to the viewer, and you will see Bilokur uses a light tough to create the impression of density, but the paper is visible between the marks. Bilokur's work reminds me a bit of Agnes Martin, in the sense that both artists find a way to distill the complexity of the world into something simple and profound. They remind us that art is ultimately a conversation, a back-and-forth between the artist, the medium, and the world around them, always open to interpretation.