Space with Buildings 1955

Peter Takal made this drawing, Space with Buildings, and its delicate lines of ink are balanced with areas of empty space. Imagine Takal standing, leaning over the paper, maybe turning it as he works. He's using confident strokes to create these buildings and towers, but it’s as if everything is about to be erased, as if they’re ghosts of buildings. Or are they rising up? They are drawn in such a way that you can feel Takal's movement, and the push and pull of his mind as he decides which lines to keep and which to leave out. I can imagine him inspired by other artists such as Paul Klee, who also worked with very sparse lines to build a world. In this drawing there is a real sense of freedom and play. It's as though, through the act of drawing, Takal found a space where buildings could be both solid and dissolving at the same time. And isn't that what art is all about, finding new ways of seeing and experiencing the world?