Green Studio 1944

Adja Yunkers' "Green Studio" is a print awash in deep, brooding greens and stark whites. It feels like a world conjured from memory or dream. I imagine Yunkers wrestling with the plate, coaxing these figures and forms into being. The figures, rendered in simple strokes, have this haunting presence, like ghosts caught in the act of posing. They’re both there and not there, emerging from a ground that seems to shift and change. There’s a vulnerability to these figures, especially the nude, who presents her back to us. In the end, I think the artist is telling us that they are more open, honest and raw. The red accent is a spark, it makes me wonder what role color played in the artist's wider practice? I'm also wondering what other artists he was looking at. Maybe Picasso? There's something cubist about the planes and angles. It’s like all painters are having a big conversation across time, riffing off each other's ideas, and seeing where they lead.