En beneden waren de menschen 1925

This is Fré Cohen's "En beneden waren de menschen," a monochromatic piece where the stark contrast immediately grabs you, pulling you into its vortex. It’s all about the push and pull, isn’t it? I love the way Cohen uses light and shadow to create movement, especially within the spokes. You can almost feel them turning, like a surrealist take on industrialism. The texture feels almost palpable, like you could run your hand across the surface and feel the grain of the woodcut. There is something about the way they're rendered that reminds me of a musical score, like looking at a graphic representation of sound. It puts me in mind of early twentieth century German Expressionist printmaking, like Käthe Kollwitz, maybe, but Cohen brings her own kind of geometry and rhythm into the mix. Art's a conversation, right?