Stream through an Ancient Forest 

Curator: Right now we're standing in front of a drawing, we don't have an exact date, entitled "Stream through an Ancient Forest" by Jonas Umbach, rendered in ink. What strikes you most when you look at it? Editor: The immediate impression is the weight of history, almost a prehistoric feel. It is amazing that a landscape so intricate can be rendered through what appears to be a pretty accessible technique. Curator: You know, I keep thinking about how ink, as a material, connects this drawing to centuries of mark-making, all the way back to illuminated manuscripts. This isn't some rarefied oil on canvas; it's grounded in the very act of writing and documentation, of everyday craft. It almost suggests this forest, its life-giving resources, were being documented. Editor: I see that. And for me, there’s something deeply calming in the way Umbach guides your eye through the landscape with his delicate linework, particularly those elegantly arching trees. It's a meditation on nature’s resilience, don't you think? Despite its starkness. Curator: I find myself dwelling on the base material, on the economic reality of the pigments themselves and the skills and labour required for them. We can make connections to globalization by seeing the different ways colorants were traded. In fact, something interesting emerges as we look back at Umbach’s "Stream through an Ancient Forest." If we study art through the perspective of resources we start to rethink art history. Editor: Absolutely, because otherwise, you might simply overlook how Umbach used form to convey this sense of organic growth. Curator: And form in that landscape serves, ultimately, as a metaphor for human ingenuity and exploitation. So many inks require a complicated labor-heavy manufacturing. But what matters now is how this image sparks dialogues. Editor: So, maybe what we’re both pointing to is how an artwork that seems simple at first glance holds layers of significance—waiting for each of us to find our way through the trees, so to speak? Curator: Precisely. Each glance might unearth a little secret of the woods. The labor, the forms, or how we as a society perceive these representations!