Nude 1975

This is a contour drawing on paper by Hryhorii Havrylenko, made at some unknown date. I can almost see the artist’s hand moving swiftly, confidently over the page. The artist is going after something, searching for a form, for a way to see, a way to describe what it feels like to be in a body. I know that feeling. You draw one line, then another right next to it, like echoes or shadows. It reminds me a little of Matisse's drawings, they both share a deceptive simplicity. But this is also very much its own thing, like the artist is trying to capture something essential with just a few strokes. It’s like he's saying, "Here it is, the bare minimum, the essence of form." It’s intimate. It’s vulnerable.