The Witnessed Image 1959

Kenneth Kerslake's etching, ‘The Witnessed Image’, is like peering into the depths of an artist’s mind. Imagine the scratches and the biting of the acid into the metal. There are a multitude of mysterious forms, each a little puzzle piece that refuses to fit neatly into a recognizable picture. I sympathize with Kerslake, lost in a sea of shapes, trying to wrangle them into something meaningful. Maybe he was thinking about Gorky or Picasso? It's like he’s riffing off their ideas but doing his own thing. The circular boundary is a frame that contains his thoughts. I keep thinking about all those little marks and the way they create a range of tones. How they activate the surface and give it this crazy vibrating energy. Kerslake is having a conversation with artists from the past and present, each adding their own brushstroke to the ongoing dialogue.