Cup 1963

This is James McGarrell’s Cup, we don’t know when he made it or with what, but it’s got that fantastic, scratchy energy of a print. It feels like he’s digging into the plate, pulling out light from the darkness. Look at the way the image emerges from the hatched lines, see how it creates form, like a sculptural object, grabbing light, almost flickering. The mark-making here is so physical, like a conversation between the artist and the material. There’s this beautiful tension between control and chance. I’m drawn to the way the cup is rendered. It’s almost glowing, like a void amidst all the textured marks. It reminds me of some of Goya’s darker prints, that same sense of psychological intensity and raw emotion. It really speaks to art as an ongoing conversation. It’s not about definitive answers, but about opening up new ways of seeing.