Eurydice n. 20 1996

Bracha Ettinger made Eurydice n. 20 using intaglio, drypoint and etching. The way these marks almost dissolve on the page, it’s like a memory, or a dream. This reminds me that artmaking is so often about uncovering, not covering up. It’s about what emerges from the process. Take a look at the textured surface, the layers of ink, the delicate lines that seem to both define and obscure the image. There’s a figure in the center, encircled, but she is also part of a wider field of faded marks. She’s not an isolated form so much as something embedded in the support. It’s as if the whole image is porous, and everything is bleeding into everything else. This bleeding or blurring is a key part of the image’s impact. This kind of layering reminds me of work by people like Cy Twombly, where drawing feels more like thinking aloud than a finished statement. It’s like art is an ongoing exchange of ideas, embracing ambiguity over fixed meanings.