Man en vrouw op bank 1972

Rein Dool made this print, ‘Man en vrouw op bank’, using etching. It’s all about the line, isn’t it? A simple, almost casual line, like a doodle in the margins of a notebook. You can see the trace of the artist’s hand. The marks create a sense of space, a sort of fleeting moment. A couple are relaxing on a bench, maybe after a few drinks given the glasses and tilted horizon. The bodies are rendered with a kind of raw honesty. There's a vulnerability in the way Dool captures the human form, the lines are imperfect, and that’s what makes it interesting. It reminds me a little of some of Picasso’s etchings, where the line is everything, pared down to its barest essence. I think that art is a continuous dialogue, each artist responding to and building upon what came before, and Dool is definitely part of that conversation. It is so playful.