Untitled 2022

This untitled drawing by EtchingRoom1 shows a subway train stopped at a station platform. The artist used ink, probably a fine liner pen, and paid great attention to detail. I imagine the artist in their studio, sketching with precision, filling in the details with small, repetitive marks. What’s so striking about this piece is the tension between the rigid architectural grid, and the more organic rendering of the people waiting for the train. They seem to have a real interest in pattern. There is a sense of both precision and improvisation in the work. It feels like it relates to architectural drawings but also to the playful and strange world of comics. You see this kind of back-and-forth, of serious rendering and playful line, in all kinds of artists’ work. It is the engine of creativity.