Rhi-No 1957

Editor: Romas Viesulas's 1957 print, "Rhi-No", is visually arresting. It’s monochrome, and the lines almost feel violently etched. I see a ghostly rhinoceros-like shape emerging from what seems like chaotic mark-making. What’s your take on this abstract piece? Curator: It’s fascinating to consider the materiality of “Rhi-No”. Viesulas is working within the constraints of printmaking – a medium that inherently involves labor and reproducibility. Look closely at the surface. What do you see in the layering and the texture that speaks to the artist's process? Editor: I notice some areas look like accidental marks. It isn’t precise or neat, so the artist seemed more concerned with the impression, the act of making. It is about the form more than the figure itself? Curator: Exactly. We can view this not just as a representation, but as evidence of the artist's engagement with his tools and materials. Consider the paper itself, and the decisions in printing – was it mass-produced? How does the choice of materials affect the work's accessibility and its place within a wider consumer culture of art? Editor: That is not something I normally consider. I think more about intention of the artist as removed from real-world applications. Curator: The beauty of a materialist lens is that we remember to think of where that “intention” is created, from what resources, in what way, and what that creation does to the resources it consumes. Editor: It gives an angle beyond pure aesthetics! Considering the process and material certainly gives the work a whole new dimension. Thanks for broadening my view. Curator: And you, for reminding us that it is ok to be open to works of art without understanding its real world and production!