Subway 1954

Saul Steinberg made this drawing, Subway, on paper, with crayon, in 1954. Look at the layering of marks and colors that create this totemic figure. I imagine Steinberg in his studio, scratching and smudging, building up the image through addition and erasure, in the same way we construct our identities. There's a beautiful awkwardness to it, with its shifting planes and multiple perspectives, the kind that can happen when you allow your hand to lead the way. Maybe he was thinking about the constant flux of urban life. I can sense a visual conversation with other artists preoccupied with urban life. Think of Stuart Davis or Philip Guston! Consider the physicality of the medium: the grain of the crayon on the page, the way the colors bleed into one another, the assertive lines that construct the human form. Gestures like these communicate feeling and intention. All artists stand on the shoulders of giants; Steinberg invites us to embrace ambiguity and uncertainty. I want to go to the subway now!