Illustration for Tristan Tzara's "Vingt-cinq poèmes" 1918

This Illustration for Tristan Tzara's "Vingt-cinq poèmes" by Jean Arp is made with some kind of printmaking technique and the colour palette is very simple: black on white. I can imagine Arp in his studio, maybe he was carving away at a block, each cut a decisive act, but also kind of intuitive, letting the material guide him. What was he thinking when he made it? Was he just letting the form emerge organically, like a seed sprouting or was he thinking of the wild poetry of Tristan Tzara? The black ink is thick and solid, but the form itself is fluid, almost like it's still in motion. I think it's a shape reminiscent of his sculptures. It's like Arp is trying to capture the essence of something alive, but also something abstract, something that exists only in the realm of imagination. You know, artists like Arp are always in conversation with each other, across time, inspiring each other’s creativity. He is such an inspiration. I think that painting, or any kind of artmaking, is this embodied expression which embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.