Calm Life 1970

Curator: Dieter Roth, born in 1930, often blurred the lines between printmaking and the everyday, as we see in this work, "Calm Life," held in the Tate Collections. Editor: There’s a charming simplicity here, almost childlike in its execution. The sketch-like quality gives it an immediate, accessible feel. Curator: The etching process is key. Roth embraced the accidental, the imperfect, challenging notions of artistic skill and elevating the mundane. Editor: Absolutely, the visible lines feel almost haphazard, reflecting a raw, unfiltered process. The subject matter—flowers, a cat, a window—points to domesticity, yet the etching gives it a subversive edge. It's rough around the edges, isn't it? Curator: Precisely. Consider the title, "Calm Life"—is it sincere or ironic? Perhaps it critiques the bourgeois obsession with order and beauty, hinting at a deeper unease within domestic life. Editor: I agree. Seeing the materials and labor so transparently, it reframes our understanding, connecting the work to a very human process, with its imperfections and all. Curator: Thinking about Roth's wider practice, this piece invites us to question how we define 'art' and the value we place on different forms of making. Editor: It leaves me considering the inherent contradiction in trying to capture something as fleeting as "calm" through such deliberate, material means. It’s a fascinating tension.