Vier gieren 1919

Bernard Willem Wierink made this drawing, Vier Gieren, or Four Vultures, using pen and brush in grey ink. It's the kind of piece that feels like it was made in a fugue state; a reverie of layered lines and tonal variation. There’s a real material presence here, the paper support has a warm tan tone that peeks through the grey ink in places. Take a look at the lowest bird, it’s head is bowed down, and there’s a single heavy bead hanging off its beak, anchoring the whole composition. I'm thinking about the texture of the feathers and how the lines are so uniform, it feels obsessive and even hypnotic. Wierink seems to have been influenced by artists like Odilon Redon, another artist who had a knack for creating strange and uncanny images that delve into the darker sides of human experience. Anyway, art isn't about answers, right? It's about asking questions and embracing the unknown.