Untitled #26 1998 - 1999

Anna Gaskell made this untitled drawing on paper with ink. Looking at this drawing, I’m struck by the sparseness of it, how the ink barely kisses the surface of the paper. The figure is all angles and appendages, a kind of skeletal outline that feels both awkward and elegant. Those attenuated lines are so deliberate, not labored over, but considered, like each one is a breath held then released. See how the form suggests the figure is upside down, the legs up in the air? It’s unnerving, this perspective shift. It's a bit like Louise Bourgeois’ drawings, where the body is fragmented and reassembled, pushing against conventional ideas about beauty and form. What does it mean to turn things on their head? I think that’s up to us, the viewers. Art isn't about answers, it’s about asking questions.