There were Shadows on the Road 2004

Ivan Marchuk made "There were Shadows on the Road" with oil paint, and the way he's built up the surface reminds me of those pointillist painters, you know, like Seurat. Up close, the texture is so rich and alive. You can almost feel the bristles of the brush dancing across the canvas. Look at how the shadows are rendered, not just as dark patches, but as intricate networks of lines and dots. It's like he's captured the very essence of light filtering through the trees. The browns and ochres create a sense of warmth, but there's also a touch of melancholy in the subdued palette. It’s like he’s having a conversation with the landscape, mark by mark. This kind of sustained looking and responding reminds me of Agnes Martin, in the way that both artists share a commitment to process and to making something profound out of simple means. And, of course, with art there's never just one way to see things.