Boom before 1959

Dirkje Kuik made this monochromatic drawing, Boom, with ink, or maybe watercolor, who knows? It’s that blue-gray that sort of dissolves the image while making it. I love how the tree is so linear. It’s just made of these little hatched marks, so simple, so elegant. But then, when you look over at the left side of the picture, it's like a total explosion! There are all these scribbles and watery washes, shapes suggesting other shapes, a real frenzy of mark-making! For me, it’s like a conversation between control and chaos. The quiet, confident tree, and the mad energy of that left side, it’s kind of how I feel every day in the studio. Sometimes you just need to let it all hang out, and sometimes you need to be precise. Think of Morandi and his bottles, I see a similar search for peace in simple things. Art-making is about finding a balance.