Figure with a dog 1964

Jules Perahim made this evocative drawing in ink, and what strikes me is the way he lets the ink bloom and bleed, really embracing the unpredictable nature of the medium. The inky blacks create an otherworldly atmosphere, full of ghostly figures and shadowy forms. There’s a real sense of immediacy in the work, like Perahim was chasing after fleeting thoughts or images. Look at the way the ink pools at the base of the rectangular form, it’s almost like a stain or a spill, yet it becomes integral to the composition, grounding the image. The figure, which is skeletal, points a thin arrow toward the rectangular form, and the tension between them is palpable. This piece reminds me of the surrealist landscapes of Dorothea Tanning, and how she also embraced the fluidity and ambiguity of paint to create dreamlike scenes. It’s this embrace of uncertainty that makes the work so compelling, and I like that Perahim invites us to get lost in the inky depths of his imagination, and to find our own meanings and connections within the work.