Untitled Landscape, Woodstock (No.4398) 1962

Arthur Pinajian made this untitled landscape, probably with ink on paper, sometime before 1999. It's all wild, gestural marks in black against a white ground; it’s an explosion of lines. You can see the artist really enjoying the process. The lines themselves are fascinating. Look at the way Pinajian varies the pressure, making some lines thick and bold, others thin and wispy. The ink almost feels calligraphic, like he's writing with a brush. In the upper left, there's an area where the lines tangle and overlap, creating a sense of depth and movement that feels almost frantic. Pinajian was a contemporary of de Kooning and Kline, and you can definitely see that Abstract Expressionist spirit in his work. But there's also a raw, untamed quality that feels uniquely his own. Like Guston said, "Never be afraid to be ugly." Pinajian really took that to heart. Ultimately, this piece reminds us that art is about exploration, about embracing the messiness and unpredictability of the creative process.