[title not known] 1970

Curator: This is a watercolor of a ram by Dame Elisabeth Frink, part of the Tate collection. What strikes you first? Editor: The washes of color. The artist is remarkably economical with the material, achieving form and texture with these very light strokes. You can see the paper underneath. Curator: Rams carry a lot of symbolic weight. Fertility, aggression, leadership. Do you find any of that communicated here? Editor: The execution feels a bit violent, doesn't it? The way the pigment stains the paper, almost like blood. Curator: Interesting observation. Frink often explored themes of power, brutality, and the human condition through animal forms. Editor: And here, we can really see the raw process, the application of color that gives this animal its presence. Curator: It is powerful how Frink evokes something so primal with such simple materials. Editor: Absolutely, it really gives us insight into the artist's process and, perhaps, her state of mind.