Tablet 1962

Robert Mallary made this mysterious print, Tablet, using black ink. The image has a great combination of textures and mark-making approaches, which I love: from the very ordered lines on the left side to the chaotic, layered forms on the right. It is a process that embraces chance. The material aspects of the piece really bring it to life. The ink is dense and opaque, and the texture is rough and uneven. The artist must have used a variety of tools and techniques to create the image, maybe some collage, some rubbing. Look at the bottom right corner, near the edge of the sheet. It has some solid rectangular shapes, like a barcode or some kind of digital information. This relates to the title, Tablet. This reminds me of Kurt Schwitters and his collages made from found materials. Like Schwitters, Mallary sees the beauty and potential in everyday things and transforms them into something new and unexpected. These are works that embrace ambiguity, and open up multiple interpretations.