Grazend dier en koppen van een dier c. 1916

Reijer Stolk's 'Grazend dier en koppen van een dier' is an unassuming pencil sketch, that feels like a fleeting thought captured on paper. It speaks to the very act of seeing and recording. The overlapping heads of these grazing animals is an interesting way to think about the repetition and difference. The lines are tentative, searching, as if Stolk is feeling his way through the form, and each head is slightly different and has its own character. It reminds me of some of Guston's looser drawings where form emerges from a tangle of lines. It’s like Stolk is saying, "Here’s a horse, and here’s another, and another," each one slightly different, each one a new attempt to capture the essence of the animal. Art's not about getting it "right," but about the process of trying.