Metamorphose (Metamorphosis) 1963

Andre Masson made this print, Metamorphosis, with green and black inks, sometime in the 20th century. It’s a trip, right? I mean, look at that looping line that kind of suggests a body, or maybe a vine, morphing into something else entirely. You can almost feel Masson’s hand moving quickly, instinctively. He’s using a kind of automatist approach like some of the Surrealists. The line quality is loose, searching. It makes me wonder, was he even sure what he was drawing? There’s this push and pull between representation and abstraction, a negotiation that’s never quite resolved. And that blobby green? It’s like a landscape, or maybe just pure atmosphere. Masson’s really asking us to embrace the unknown, to find our own meanings in the chaos. It reminds me of the way Joan Miró or even some of Picabia's later works play with similar ideas, echoing each other across time. And isn't that what art is all about? A conversation, a constant exchange of ideas?