Composition (with red sphere) 1963

Hryhorii Havrylenko made this painting, Composition (with red sphere), at an unknown date, with strokes of thick oil paint in red, yellow, blue, and green. I can almost feel the artist pushing and pulling the paint across the surface, each gesture building upon the last. It’s like watching a dance unfold, full of energy and improvisation. I wonder what Havrylenko was thinking as he laid down these marks? Was he trying to capture a fleeting moment, or was he wrestling with something deeper? The red sphere anchors the composition but also creates a visual tension, inviting us to question its relationship to the surrounding forms. The whole painting shimmers and vibrates with feeling. It reminds me a little bit of some work by Kandinsky, but also Joan Mitchell. Painters are always talking to each other across time, you know? Each brushstroke is a response to what’s come before, an invitation to what might be. Painting embraces ambiguity, and allows for multiple interpretations. There isn't a fixed meaning, just layers of feeling and expression waiting to be discovered.