La façade before 1975

Nono Reinhold made this stark and graphic etching of a building facade, but when is a mystery. The texture of the brickwork is achieved through tight, repeated lines, a real labor of love. What I love about this piece is its ambiguity. The flat black rectangles could be windows, doors, or even absences. The white rectangles are more mysterious, are they light? Reflections? This play with negative space creates a push and pull, where the building seems both solid and strangely ethereal. Look closely at the surface, the way the ink bleeds slightly into the paper. This gives it a tactile quality, inviting you to reach out and touch. It reminds me of Piranesi's architectural fantasies. Reinhold, like Piranesi, creates a world that is both familiar and unsettling, inviting us to question our perceptions of space and form. Like all good art, it’s more about questions than answers.