Soft Landscape II 1967

Louise Bourgeois created ‘Soft Landscape II’ from an unknown material at an unknown time. The medium is really working hard here to trick the eye. At first, it looks like carved wood, but then you notice the waxy sheen, and maybe start to wonder if it's cast in bronze. It’s as if Bourgeois is playing with the push and pull between organic and industrial processes. There is a particular mark in the 'landscape' base that stands out. See where the material is folded and pinched at the edge? It’s a formal device, but it also adds an emotional weight – like a protective edge or a secret fold. The way the dark, tactile surface invites touch but also suggests hidden depths reminds me a little of Anish Kapoor's explorations of form and material, though Bourgeois has her own language. Ultimately, art invites us to embrace uncertainty and find our own stories in the spaces between things.