Rug c. 20th century

This rug was made by a Navajo (Diné) artist, and I love the way that it uses simple shapes to create complex rhythms. The texture looks soft, inviting, and the colors, mostly blacks, whites, and grays, are grounded, elemental. Your eye travels over the surface, caught by the zig-zagging lines. There is a satisfying regularity to it, and yet, if you look closer, you see the subtle imperfections, the slight variations in tone, that give it so much life. I find my eye drawn to the central column, where the zig-zags are separated by a thin line of delicate hatching. It is almost as if the artist is emphasizing that these bold shapes are not simply decorative, but built from a series of smaller, more intimate marks. I think this is a reminder that even the most complex patterns are born from simple, iterative processes. It puts me in mind of the work of Agnes Martin, whose deceptively simple grids repay extended looking. Art is a conversation, an ongoing exchange of ideas across time, and this rug has a lot to say.