Skematisk tegning af bølgebevægelse 1908

Poul S. Christiansen made this schematic drawing of waves with ink on paper at an unknown date. The controlled, repetitive strokes used to create the waves feel very process-oriented. It’s as if Christiansen is working through an idea or a system, rather than trying to capture a specific scene. I'm interested in the way the waves are rendered, the physicality of the marks on the page. The ink is applied in tight, parallel lines, building up a sense of texture and movement. You can almost feel the ebb and flow of the water, see the light glinting off its surface. Notice the individual strokes; they’re not perfectly uniform, they have a slight wobble to them, a human quality that keeps the drawing from feeling too mechanical. This focus on process and the physicality of mark-making reminds me a little of the drawings of Dorothea Rockburne, another artist who used systematic approaches to explore form and space. Like Rockburne, Christiansen seems to be interested in the way that simple gestures can create complex and evocative images.