Summer Scroll #8 (Five Kinds of Hydra Trees) 1986

Curator: This drawing by Brice Marden from 1986, called "Summer Scroll #8 (Five Kinds of Hydra Trees)," presents a captivating exploration of organic forms in ink on paper. Editor: My first impression is whirlwind! It's all energetic scribbles and tangled branches—a stark but strangely elegant chaos in monochrome. Curator: The “scroll” format, the calligraphic quality of the lines, this feels very rooted in Marden's deep engagement with Eastern art and philosophy. He studied calligraphy extensively; you see that influence here. Editor: Absolutely, but it’s filtered through a decisively modernist lens, right? The abstraction prevents it from being a simple landscape sketch; those hydra trees are more a suggestion of nature, like captured fleeting thoughts rather than depictions. It feels almost like musical notation for an unheard concerto. Curator: Precisely. There’s a push and pull between representation and abstraction. The 'hydra' aspect suggests multiplicity, variation within a theme. Consider the institutional aspect too—how Marden positions drawing, often viewed as preparatory, as the primary work of art. This subverts the traditional hierarchy. Editor: He's giving weight and agency to what is sometimes perceived as ephemeral. Looking at it, I sense the physical act of making. The ink splatters feel spontaneous, almost accidental. What do you think about that apparent casualness, or what seems to be that casualness? Curator: Those "accidents," I would argue, are entirely intentional. They contribute to the sense of immediacy, of being present in the moment of creation. These details also show how even perceived mistakes can lend their beauty to art; such openness, to some degree, allows audiences to come into the drawing process itself. Editor: Yes, it's about finding beauty within a set of controlled parameters, I imagine. A sort of organized freedom... Which is maybe what summer itself really is. Curator: An interesting conclusion! Thank you for sharing. Editor: Thank you. It seems this scroll is itself a portal of a brief reflection of our shared space.