Female image 1975

Hryhorii Havrylenko's drawing presents a stark exploration of form and essence. Executed with spare lines, the portrait of a woman confronts us directly. The simplicity of the black lines against the white ground renders an immediacy, yet the controlled nature of the strokes suggests careful consideration. Havrylenko reduces the face to its most essential components, challenging conventional portraiture. This sparseness is reminiscent of structuralist approaches, where underlying systems are laid bare. Every line serves a purpose, defining space and shape, questioning the semiotics of representation itself. In many ways, this drawing destabilizes the category of ‘portraiture’ itself. Rather than offering a likeness, it asks us to consider the very structure of seeing. The blank spaces become as important as the lines, inviting an act of visual interpretation. This piece does not offer a singular truth, but embraces the open-ended play of meaning.