Grave-yard Dirt c. 1935 - 1943

This is Frank Reichmann's "Grave-yard Dirt," and it was made sometime before 1937 using printmaking techniques. Look at that stark contrast and those dramatic, scratchy lines—it feels like Reichmann's digging into the plate, just like the title suggests, right? The darkness in this print is so heavy, especially in the figure and the looming trees, it almost feels suffocating, but there is also this ethereal quality, a sense of something beyond. Notice the way the figure is looking up, as if they are listening to the ravens, or the trees, for answers. There's a vulnerability there, in the exposed neck and upward gaze, it's a moment of raw emotion. Thinking about other artists who have explored the darkness of human existence, I keep coming back to Goya. The rawness, the vulnerability, and the unflinching gaze at mortality, its a similar feeling. Art’s not about answers, right? It’s about asking the questions.