Snehové brazdy (Snow Furrows) 1968

Ladislav Cepelák made this etching called Snehové brazdy, or Snow Furrows, and you can see the action of the artist, in the working of the plate, and in the wiping of the ink. I really get the sense of the artist's hand moving, scratching, and scraping. It makes me think about the physical act of creating the plate, and the dialogue the artist had with the material. Was it a struggle? Did the image emerge easily? Did he use his whole body? I can imagine him thinking about other artists who have worked with landscape, maybe even looking at their work for inspiration. Artists are always in conversation with one another, even across time. They borrow, steal, and riff off of each other's ideas, like a game of telephone. Ultimately, this piece is a kind of embodied expression. It embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations, which is what makes art so damn exciting.