Fantastic Figure 1937

Julio Gonzalez made this ink and watercolor drawing, "Fantastic Figure," in 1939. There's a playful quality to the way he builds up the image with lines and washes, letting the figure emerge through a process of adding and subtracting. I’m drawn to the materiality here, how the ink bleeds and pools in certain areas, creating these rich, textured surfaces. Look at the way Gonzalez uses hatching and cross-hatching to define the form, giving it a sense of depth and volume. There's a beautiful tension between the precision of the linework and the fluidity of the watercolor. Notice that odd shape at the top left, like a melting candle, kind of precarious but also funny. It echoes the overall sense of lightness and instability in the piece, as if the figure could topple over at any moment. Gonzalez's background as a sculptor shines through here. I think about Picasso, who also worked with line to open up the sculptural possibilities of drawing, using it to explore the interplay of form and space.