Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1907

This envelope, a letter sent by Vittorio Pica to Philip Zilcken, is a whisper across time. Look at the gentle marks, the way the ink bleeds slightly into the paper, it's like the ghost of a thought taking shape. The stamp, faded and foxed, anchors the corner. Its detailed and contained image is a stark contrast to the flurry of handwritten script, the quickly dashed address, the marks and stamps of its transit. Each element tells a story, or perhaps many stories all at once. It's easy to imagine Pica’s hand, the pressure of the pen, the quick strokes forming words, or the postal worker cancelling the stamp, their routine gesture now imbued with history. This envelope reminds me of Cy Twombly’s work. Like Twombly, Pica wasn’t necessarily trying to make something polished or precious. Rather he was more interested in embracing the raw, imperfect, and transient qualities of mark making. The envelope invites us to reflect on the beauty found in the everyday, the stories embedded within simple, overlooked objects.