Untitled (Racetrack) c. 1930s

Arnold Friedman created this drawing, entitled "Racetrack," using pencil on paper. Look closely at the way he’s built up the image bit by bit, almost like he's knitting with graphite. It's a process of accretion, a slow accumulation of tiny marks that come together to form a whole world. I’m drawn to the way the texture of the paper seems to breathe through the image, giving it a life of its own. See how he’s rendered the crowd in the foreground with these quick, almost scribbled lines, while the horses on the track are more carefully delineated, caught in mid-stride. The dark mass above the racetrack, is it a canopy, is it night, who knows! This reminds me a bit of some of Milton Avery’s more pared-down works, where he uses color and form to suggest rather than define. Both artists share a similar sensibility, a willingness to embrace ambiguity and let the work remain open to multiple interpretations.