Delaware Church 1975

This is Stow Wengenroth's "Delaware Church," and I imagine it was made with some kind of lithographic crayon or pencil and a stone, or a metal plate, and lots of layering and rubbing. You can see this church built up with countless tiny marks. The artist is feeling something about these buildings. The way the light falls, the shadows, and a kind of stillness. I see a very deliberate scene, the result of careful observation. The artist uses a limited palette, and creates a balance between detail and simplicity. Look at the stark tree in the foreground, its bare branches reaching up and across the church. The building looms. Wengenroth is showing a bit of everything, and what kind of everything is it? It’s his everything, that is for sure. Wengenroth is part of a long history of artists who look, who note, who record, and I am really interested in the choices he made.