Inescapable Rhythms 1958

Curator: This is "Inescapable Rhythms," a print created by Bernard A. Kohn in 1958. It's an intriguing example of abstraction, rendered through the specific technique of linocut. Editor: My first thought is of contained chaos. There's a sense of frantic energy struggling to break free from a clearly defined structure, visually set in a reddish tone that creates a striking atmosphere. What does this controlled explosion tell you? Curator: Immediately, I see the remnants of Expressionism. It seems to me to speak about post-war anxiety and transformation. While it is a purely non-representational image, there's still an effort to express a sensation— a weight of change— that resonates powerfully through abstract forms. The rhythms you describe seem to embody that frantic transition. Editor: Knowing that it is a linocut enriches this interpretation. The work and process involved in physically carving away at the material enforces the visual density— forcing those 'rhythms' into a very concrete form, very much like a heavy labor or process. Curator: Yes, the technique carries a strong association, doesn’t it? Linocut prints often imply certain cultural or societal values that are then imprinted into the artwork, resonating across decades through its particular language and style. I see both individual torment, yet an emerging structural organization that creates visual appeal to its time and place. Editor: Agreed. It's almost as if Kohn captured the sense of modern alienation as it attempts to reshape itself. The materiality— the tangible labor evident in each carved line— speaks volumes about resilience and a continuous need to express oneself through any material at hand, no matter how basic. Curator: It seems fitting to interpret these 'inescapable rhythms' as our own continued struggles and progress, expressed with incredible, striking depth of symbolic form. Editor: And all the more relevant given that it shows us the intense emotional and material constraints necessary to push forward. A visual proof about how pressure can produce remarkable new things.