Untitled 1961

This drawing by John Altoon is a flurry of dark lines, a jumble of marks suspended on a pale field. It feels kind of raw, like it came right out of the subconscious. I'm picturing Altoon in his studio, maybe late at night, just letting his hand go. It's like he’s building these forms out of pure, unadulterated energy. See that cluster of hatching on the right side of the image? It's not quite a shape, but it's definitely something forming, like a thought or a feeling taking shape on the page. The lightness of touch also reminds me of Cy Twombly. The lines are tentative and searching, like Altoon is feeling his way through the image. I imagine the act of drawing, of working and reworking lines, was a way of thinking through a problem, not necessarily to find a solution but to linger in the questions themselves. It speaks to the idea that painting is really a conversation with yourself and with other artists, a continual questioning of what it means to make something new.