First Stone 1962

Lee Bontecou made this drawing, called *First Stone*, in 1962 using graphite, and it's such a trip! There’s a scattering of dark, somewhat mechanical, somewhat organic forms, distributed across a milky ground. It looks like an image that’s been dreamed up and then exploded across the page. I can only imagine Bontecou, hovering over this piece, pencil in hand, letting her mind run wild. She’s making these intense marks, almost like she's building up the image, bit by bit, allowing the forms to emerge and take shape. It's like she’s creating her own universe right there on the paper. These gestures, each little mark, they’re all so deliberate, so full of energy. Look at the central forms; they're like these dark, pulsating suns, radiating a kind of raw, almost dangerous energy. Bontecou always had her own vision. She reminds me of Goya in that way. Artists like her and Goya are in a constant dialogue with the world and with each other, pushing boundaries, and showing us new ways of seeing.