Eyeland 1999

Curator: Ah, John Himmelfarb’s "Eyeland." A fascinating woodcut print, small in scale, only about 15 by 20 centimeters. Editor: My first thought? It's like a fragmented memory of a city, seen from above, all jagged edges and contrasting dark and light spaces. Curator: Yes, the composition certainly evokes a cartographic view, with densely packed shapes suggesting buildings and streets, yet the overall effect feels almost dreamlike. Editor: Exactly! The high contrast emphasizes the tension between order and chaos, doesn’t it? The black devouring the white, as if the city's consuming itself. It is, dare I say, a little suffocating. Curator: Perhaps that tension is part of its power. The woodcut technique itself, with its bold, graphic lines, lends a rawness that heightens the emotional impact. Editor: Raw indeed. But it invites such playful imagination! Curator: It does, a lot more than I thought! Editor: Well, I think it captures something essential about urban life, the beauty, and the claustrophobia all rolled into one tiny frame. Curator: Yes, something about the weight of it all.