Untitled 1970

This untitled print was made in 1970 by Jiří John, using etching. I just love to imagine his process. The image is all in shades of gray, made up of these tiny little marks. Up at the top, you've got these jagged shapes, almost like rocks, and then below, this huge open space that could be anything, like mist. The marks he makes are darker at the top and bottom, lighter in the middle. You can almost feel the scratch of the tool he used and the way he built up the image, bit by bit. I wonder, was Jiří looking out his window? Thinking about the world, his place in it? What did he want to say with these marks and shadows? It reminds me of Goya, or even some of the early abstract expressionists, where the process of making becomes a way of thinking. Artists are always in conversation, you know, even across time. It’s like a big game of telephone, each one riffing on the last.