Uncle Aaron c. 1932

Bernard Sanders made this etching of "Uncle Aaron" with fine lines on paper. I just love the quirky vibe and the sense of humor that comes through. Imagine Sanders hunched over the plate, scratching away with his needle, building up this image line by line, each one a tiny decision, a little act of faith. The lines create all kinds of textures, like the beard and the top hat. What was Sanders thinking about as he made this? Was he smiling to himself? Was Uncle Aaron a real person, or a figment of Sanders' imagination? Sanders’s lines remind me of other artists like Alfred Kubin or Paul Klee, who used line in an unconventional way. It's all part of this amazing conversation that artists have, echoing and riffing off each other across time. Ultimately, what I get from this piece is that art can just be a space of open-endedness, of not-knowing, where meaning is always up for grabs.