Untitled #26 1998 - 1999

Anna Gaskell made this untitled drawing with graphite on paper, its date is unknown. I’m looking at these attenuated lines and vaguely surreal shapes. This artwork feels provisional, as if the artist were working through something. You know, like a sketch, or a study of a subject. I can imagine Gaskell with her graphite pencil, the paper laid flat, turning the sheet, unsure and unselfconscious, as the image began to emerge. The figure is fragmented and discombobulated. What’s up with that upside-down head? In its spindly asymmetry, the work reminds me of other female artists such as Remedios Varo and Leonora Carrington, who embrace vulnerability and precariousness, each informing the other. Art making is like a conversation between artists across time; a constant exchange of ideas that allows for the emergence of new meanings and possibilities.