Couple 1975

Curator: Here we have Hryhorii Havrylenko's "Couple," a pen drawing created in 1975. Editor: Sparse, isn't it? Feels almost like a memory fading into the white of the page. The emotion is so raw despite the economy of line. Curator: The composition focuses intensely on the figuration of the couple. Note how Havrylenko uses a continuous, almost unbroken line to define the figures, a technique which emphasizes the fluidity and interconnectedness between the two figures. Editor: The man's gaze is forward, outward, but hers... It's internal, reflective. And the embrace, it’s not passionate, but protective. Like she's shielding herself, even within the bond. It almost suggests an uncertainty despite the intimacy. Curator: Precisely. The minimalism enhances the psychological complexity. We can read it as a study of vulnerability and the performativity of protection, the negotiation of gazes and power dynamics within intimate relationships, especially as viewed through the lens of contemporary Ukrainian art. The nude form and directness of the line imbues a modernist feel as well. Editor: It’s deceptive in its simplicity, wouldn’t you say? You almost glide over it. Yet then you start to consider, line by line, the weighting given to the turn of a shoulder, a slight tenseness of the hand—and it becomes loaded with implications. Curator: That contrast is quite deliberate. The sparseness almost challenges the viewer to co-create the narrative. It becomes less about what is present, than about what the absences imply about longing, perhaps even existential questioning. Editor: Ultimately, it's a dance between what is drawn and what we, the viewers, bring to complete the story. Almost like catching whispers from a world beyond.