Studies for Constructivist Sculptures [verso] 1937

This work by Theodore Roszak is called "Studies for Constructivist Sculptures", and was made in 1937 with graphite on paper. It’s an all-over composition, a field of tentative but precise marks. What a head trip! I’m sympathizing with Roszak here. It’s a difficult thing to be an artist, to try and coax an idea into being. I can imagine him thinking through these sculptural forms, trying out different iterations, letting his mind wander across the page. There’s a real sense of play and experimentation. The ovals, cross-hairs and circular forms give way to what appear to be eyes, or maybe they’re machines. There is the human form emerging as well. Roszak’s using the language of constructivism but pushing it towards the organic, the surreal. He's paving the way for his later, more expressionistic sculptures. It reminds me of the way Giacometti would work through ideas in his notebooks, a constant process of revision and refinement. It's about the artist thinking on paper, allowing the subconscious to guide the hand, where the process becomes a site of inquiry for the artist and, eventually, for us.