Untitled 1961

Here's something that Michael Goldberg made on a sheet of paper using printmaking techniques, probably sometime in the 60's. I can imagine him pulling the squeegee across the screen, laying down those bold swathes of black, red, gray and blue. The tension between the crispness of the silkscreen and the energetic marks reminds me of Cy Twombly. Look closely, and you'll see there's text interwoven with the abstract marks. I see 'Ode on necrophilia' and 'Well, it is better that someone love them'. The words are suggestive, but not illustrative, adding another layer of complexity to the print. For me, the inky gestures become a kind of emotional weather, as the artist creates a space for feeling and thinking about the world around them. And that is a kind of love, the love of making.