Calligraphy 1969

Ulfert Wilke made this Calligraphy with ink, sometime in his career. It's all about the gesture, I think. The way the ink sits on the page, thick and bold, like a confident signature. Look at the upper part of the image, these decisive strokes, they're not just lines; they're pathways, aren't they? The ink is opaque, unforgiving, each mark a testament to the artist's hand. It’s kind of immediate, like the artist didn't think twice, just went for it. You can almost feel the rhythm of the brush. Wilke's work reminds me a little of Cy Twombly, in the sense that it captures these fleeting moments, but also, there is a sense of the eternal, as if the work has always been there. Isn’t art just an echo of each other, anyway? Wilke doesn't offer us all the answers, and I kind of like that.