Awakening 1992

Ivan Marchuk made this painting called 'Awakening', and look at what he did with his brush! He’s constructed an image from a thousand tiny marks. I imagine him, almost like a pointillist, but look – each stroke is kind of a twig, a branch. The face is so still and peaceful amidst this riot of marks. It's as though she’s dreaming. I bet Marchuk felt like he was creating a whole world from scratch, each little line adding to the overall image, like nature springing into existence. Do you see how the twigs both surround and emanate from the woman? She's nestled in nature, or is she part of it? Painters are always in conversation with each other, across time and space, and that conversation is about mark making. Each one is saying something a little different. And in the end, none of these readings are definitive. The point is that paintings embrace ambiguity!