Overground II 1994

Andrew Topolski made Overground II using pencil and charcoal on paper, leaving traces of its making visible. I see erasures, smudges, and ghost-like half-formed shapes that remind me that painting is a process of constant revision. I can imagine him at work, his hand moving across the page, responding to the evolving image. The dark, swooping forms in the bottom left create a sense of motion, like spinning tops frozen in time. And the pale background feels like mist. Topolski's marks convey a feeling of searching and discovery, as if he's trying to capture something elusive. The architectural forms at the top could have been lifted from Piranesi’s etchings, or from some forgotten city. I sense in Topolski’s image-making a dialogue with other image-makers throughout time. Like all artists, he borrows and reinvents, engaging in a conversation that stretches back centuries. We’re all just remixing each other, right?