Barnyard Animals c. 1970s - 1980s

Jack Davis made this Barnyard Animals drawing with pen and ink; it has a lovely illustrative style. There’s a great sense of play in the process, the looseness of the marks, the layering of the ink washes, and the little details added with pen. The texture here is all about the paper and how the ink sits on it. Look at the way the wash creates subtle gradations of tone, and how some areas are more saturated than others. It's like Davis is letting the ink do its thing. It makes the surface come alive. Then there are the pen lines, scratchy and uneven, defining the forms, adding character. My eyes keep coming back to the Racoon; there's a subtle but effective use of light and shadow to bring the character to life. This playful approach reminds me a little of Philip Guston, the way he fearlessly embraced cartoonish forms to express deeper emotions. I think art is like that; it's a conversation, and everyone's invited.