Brooklyn Bridge (Mosaic) 1913

John Marin made this etching of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1913. It’s a jumble of lines, like he’s trying to catch the bridge in motion, vibrating and humming with city life. I can imagine him standing there, squinting in the sun, charcoal in hand, trying to wrangle this massive, iconic structure onto a small copper plate. You know, the way the bridge looms, but also how it's just a bunch of lines and angles, all the while trying to nail that feeling of being in the city. It's like he's wrestling with it, trying to pin down something that's always moving. It reminds me of some drawings I did of the Manhattan Bridge. I was trying to capture the energy of the place. I love the way artists, like Marin and me, keep circling back to the same subjects, like a never-ending conversation. We're all just trying to figure out how to see, how to feel, and how to make sense of the world, one mark at a time.