Looking for the mother 2010

Louise Bourgeois made this watercolour and ink drawing, ‘Looking for the mother,’ as a kind of emotional cartography. There’s something very delicate and raw about how Bourgeois applies the watercolour. The washes of red and pink feel tender, yet also a bit like an exposed nerve. You can see the water stains and the way the pigment settles, it’s all part of the story. Then there’s this inky black umbilical cord, reaching out, trying to connect. The blue stain, like a bruise, sits heavy at the center, a focal point of longing and maybe a little pain. I’m reminded of Agnes Martin's subtle grids, but where Martin seeks a kind of ethereal transcendence, Bourgeois dives deep into the personal and the visceral. It’s like she’s using her art to untangle something very fundamental about her own existence, and about all of ours, really.