Reaching out 1924

Jose Clemente Orozco made this fresco painting, Reaching Out, at an unknown date, with dark and earthy colours. I love that the paint has a kind of faded quality, like it has been there forever, or like it has been exposed to the sun and weather. Looking closely, I can see how Orozco has used thin washes of paint to build up the image, creating depth and shadow with repeated strokes. The surface has a slight texture, maybe from the roughness of the wall itself. The overall effect is both ghostly and immediate. Check out the hands at the bottom of the image, the fingers are slightly distorted and elongated, like the artist is trying to reach out and grab something just beyond their grasp. It’s this kind of gesture, this expression of human struggle, that reminds me of Käthe Kollwitz, who also used art to speak about pain and injustice. In the end, art leaves so much up to us; it is not about answers, but about asking the right questions.