Second Journey to China 1993

Jörg Schmeisser made this etching titled Second Journey to China without a specified date, probably using acid and a metal plate. The etching feels like a half-remembered dream, all smoky mountains and indecipherable writing. See how the blue-grey ink bleeds into the warmer orange tones, giving everything this sense of being viewed through a mist? Look at the bottom left corner, where the marks become really dense and scribbly, almost like a child has been let loose with a pen. This area anchors the image, giving the eye a place to rest before wandering off into the ethereal landscape. Schmeisser’s use of layering is something else. You can see how he’s built up the image bit by bit, letting each layer peek through the next, like geological strata. It reminds me of Rauschenberg’s collages, where different images and textures collide and merge. Ultimately, the beauty of this piece lies in its ambiguity. It's a journey without a clear destination.