Relic of Old Rome 1958

Louis Lozowick made this print, ‘Relic of Old Rome,’ with ink and a printing plate, and when I look at it, I see a site being excavated, as much as depicted. I'm thinking about how the ink must have felt pushing it around on the plate. Was it gloopy, stiff, or slimy? Maybe he was trying to get a feel for ancient ruins and also what Rome stood for? And maybe he then channeled that feeling through his fingers, and through the ink? The specks and splatters of ink feel like an action, and it might describe something of the artist’s feelings too. It reminds me a bit of Piranesi, but looser somehow. I like the fact that the work has a certain melancholy. The artist is talking to us, maybe without even knowing it. Lozowick is in the conversation, and so are we now. Maybe, like all of us, Lozowick was trying to figure out how to make something real, and how to work with accident and intention. It’s an attitude toward making where you’re not totally in control, where the world also has a say.