Bloem vignet c. 1910

This small floral vignette was made by Bernard Willem Wierink, but when, we don’t know. I love the inky darkness of the print against the paper, it almost feels like a photograph. I can imagine the artist making it, carefully carving into the block, proofing it, adjusting it, and getting it just right. There’s a lot of precision here, but the image still has some roughness about it. Look at those leaves, how they cluster together like a little family. It reminds me of botanical illustrations, but with a bit more freedom and imagination. Wierink has managed to capture something essential about the flower itself. There's an exchange of ideas that happens between artists through time. I always try to tap into that conversation and take it somewhere new. Painting, like this print, is an embodied expression, it’s about ambiguity, allowing for multiple ways of seeing.