Untitled 1961

Emerson Woelffer made this untitled print using lithography, a process that allows for these beautifully textured blacks. The dark ink almost feels like velvet. Look how Woelffer balances the graphic shapes, those oval forms, with the gestural marks inside. It’s all about process; each mark seems to record a moment of energy and thought. It’s like he’s having a conversation with the stone, figuring it out as he goes. I love the way the black ink is sometimes dense and opaque, and other times so light and transparent that you can see the grain of the paper underneath. The drippy marks at the bottom of the shapes, for me, really make the piece. They suggest a sense of gravity, the way things fall and settle. It reminds me of Franz Kline's work, that bold, abstract expressionist style but with a lighter, more playful touch. It’s a good reminder that art is always talking to art, across time and space.