Luna Park 1926

This lithograph, Luna Park, was made by Louis Lozowick in 1930. Lozowick was all about the city, he loved its geometry. Here, we can see that he's built a kind of dreamscape, or maybe a nightmare-scape, with all these stark contrasts. There's something unsettling about it, right? Look at how Lozowick uses the lithographic crayon to create these incredibly smooth surfaces, almost like polished metal. Then, bam!, he throws in these areas of deep, velvety black. It's this push and pull between light and shadow, abstraction and figuration. I love the way he renders the crowds, just hints of faces, lost in the spectacle. There’s a kinship with some of the German Expressionist printmakers, like Otto Dix or George Grosz, in that sharp-edged, critical view of modern life. But Lozowick brings this very American sense of scale and optimism, even if it's a little twisted. It's not about answers, it’s about asking questions and embracing the weirdness.