Figuren in oosters kostuum c. 1936

Cornelis Vreedenburgh made this drawing, Figuren in oosters kostuum, presumably with graphite on paper. It feels like a page torn right out of the artist’s sketchbook, and it reminds me that the best art often comes from a place of curiosity and exploration. There’s a vulnerability in the sketchiness, a sense that Vreedenburgh isn’t trying to impress anyone, and the figures almost look as if they are floating on the page. Each mark feels like a question, a way of feeling out the form and the space. Look at the way the lines dance and suggest so much with so little! It makes me think of the importance of embracing the unfinished, the imperfect, in our own creative processes. Kind of like Twombly in that sense, or maybe even Picasso's sketchbooks. Art isn't about having all the answers, it's about asking the right questions.