Lovers 1986

Piroska Szanto made this drawing, Lovers, with what looks like ink on paper. See how the lines wriggle and squirm? I can imagine Szanto's hand moving across the paper, almost possessed. It’s like she's not just drawing bodies, but mapping out the very terrain of intimacy. The white and tan lines, kind of drippy and blobby, suggest a sense of vulnerability. What I love about this piece is its raw honesty. Szanto isn't trying to pretty things up or make them perfect. She's showing us the messy, tangled reality of human connection. It reminds me of some of Tracey Emin's drawings, but with a tenderness that's all Szanto's own. It's almost as if she's saying, "Here it is, folks. Love in all its beautiful, imperfect glory." And isn't that what art is all about? Artists talking to artists, through time and space, figuring it all out together?