Hasli=Thal, im Berner=Oberland 1917

Adolf Wölfli made this drawing, Hasli=Thal, im Berner=Oberland, probably with colored pencil, and perhaps crayon. What strikes me first is the level of obsessive mark-making, a kind of wallpapering effect that’s so dense and layered, it almost obliterates any sense of depth. Look at how Wölfli uses colored pencil to create these rhythmic patterns, building up the surface with layer upon layer of tiny marks. There is a real materiality to this drawing, you can almost feel the texture of the paper beneath the dense network of lines and shapes. I think about Guston when I see this. I think of the art of the insane as being both a category and a set of influences that extends all the way back to the caves. There is something eternal in this work. Its open to constant reinterpretation.