We Build Anew in the Ruins 1964

Editor: We’re looking at "We Build Anew in the Ruins," a 1964 print by Sid Hammer. It's primarily ink, creating a really stark and unsettling visual. The figures hanging upside down...it's quite dramatic. What's your interpretation of this piece, seeing it purely from its formal elements? Curator: The power of this work certainly resides in its dramatic contrast. Observe the artist’s strategic use of high contrast—blacks against white—which delineates form, primarily the suspended figures, and establishes the emotional tonality of the work. What semiotic weight do you ascribe to the medium itself, etching, when considering its graphic nature and linear emphasis? Editor: Well, the lines feel rough, almost frantic. Is that intentional, to convey… chaos or urgency? Curator: Precisely. Note how the texture isn’t merely representational, but actively constructs a sense of emotional agitation through the interplay of sharp, irregular strokes. What does that contrast contribute to the visual rhetoric of ruin suggested in the title? Editor: I guess it makes the 'anew' part feel almost impossible. It is all very stark, aggressive...uncompromising, almost. There's nothing softened or prettified. It’s quite challenging. Curator: And what philosophy underpins such rawness, given the historical backdrop? Reflect on whether it resonates with the spirit of its time, perhaps mirroring socio-political upheavals, and subsequently influencing abstraction. Editor: Thinking about the formal aspects first really stripped it down to its basic components. I appreciate seeing how those elements contribute so much to the emotional impact. Curator: Indeed. Focusing on structure reveals a language through which feeling itself gains form.