Sultan de Marnuscos 1969

Consuelo González Amézcua drew ‘Sultan de Marnuscos’ with ink on board; just imagine the scratch of the pen across the surface, the rhythmic drag of the nib… The image has emerged via a process of hatching, tiny, repetitive lines building up tone, and creating a surface, at once rich and strange. I can imagine Consuelo thinking about pattern, decoration, the interplay of shadow and light in a world that is both real and imagined. There’s a touch of Aubrey Beardsley in the stylized face of the Sultan, and yet a very modern sensibility, a sense of free-wheeling invention. Look at the border of the drawing: it’s architectural, referencing Islamic design, but also strangely personal. Consuelo, it seems to me, has been thinking about how different ways of seeing can offer ways of knowing, and how the act of drawing can be a process of inquiry. She's in conversation with artists across time, building something new.