Mexican Panel 1956

Bernard Kohn made this work on paper called "Mexican Panel," full of carved lines and contrasting light and dark. I love the act of physically cutting into a surface, digging in, trying to find what’s there. You have to commit. The top image in the panel looks like a mountain or a temple, rendered in a Cubist style. I can imagine Kohn carving into the block, figuring out how to break down the forms and capture the essence of this place. I see other panels with figures, architecture, and maybe plant life. Together, it gives you the sense of a bustling Mexican city. The figures almost seem to be moving across the surface, engaging with each other in a dynamic exchange. It reminds me of the work of woodcut artists like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and how the German Expressionists used printmaking to capture the anxieties and dynamism of modern life. There’s something timeless about the act of carving into a surface to make an image. It connects us to artists across history.