City Streets c. 1935

I. Iver Rose made this black and white lithograph called 'City Streets' using crayon to build up the image. Look at the dynamic marks. Rose is laying it down and almost immediately rubbing some of it away again. I sympathize with the artist. I can almost imagine him, working late at night, perhaps feeling the weight of city life. I wonder if he was thinking about futurism, or maybe even film noir? The people huddle together, dwarfed by the looming architecture. The crayon lines suggest a kind of anxious energy, a nervous urban landscape. I love the strong contrast between light and shadow. It’s dramatic, almost theatrical, and the use of the lithographic crayon is so intuitive. Like other painters, I. Iver Rose invites us to consider how art can be a mirror reflecting our innermost thoughts and emotions. Each artist adds a new brushstroke to the ongoing conversation of art. Ultimately, we are left with something ambiguous, incomplete, which opens us to the possibility of multiple interpretations.