[title not known] 1981

Editor: This is an untitled ink wash artwork by William Johnstone, held in the Tate Collections. It feels almost like peering through a rain-streaked window at something immense and unknowable. What do you make of it? Curator: It whispers of landscapes seen through memory, doesn't it? Johnstone was deeply interested in the subconscious, and this piece resonates with a dreamlike quality. Are those mountains? Or maybe just the ghost of an idea forming? Editor: It's definitely ambiguous. I see a face, maybe a skull, within the larger dark shape. Curator: Ah, yes! Like staring into clouds, finding forms that reflect our inner state. Johnstone's work often explores that intersection between the internal and external worlds. Do you feel a sense of unease or peace when you look at it? Editor: A little of both, actually. Unease, I think, from the starkness, but peace in the fluidity. Curator: A perfect summation. It seems Johnstone captured a sliver of the human condition here, didn't he?