Skulptur I 1988

Jan Groth made ‘Skulptur I’, we don’t know when, out of a dark thread-like material against a pale background. At first glance, it could be a crack in the wall, or a shadow. It's amazing how such a simple gesture can evoke so much emotion. I’m really drawn to the texture of the dark mark. It’s clearly built up from many individual strands, twisted and gnarled into a single line. You can almost feel the artist’s hand in it, the way they coaxed the material into shape. It looks like Groth has taken something soft and made it hard, like a thought solidified into form. This reminds me of the quiet intensity of Agnes Martin's drawings. Both artists use a kind of stark simplicity to create something deeply moving. And like Martin, Groth shows us that art isn’t about grand gestures, but about the power of small, deliberate actions.