Afternoon Repast 1968

Jirí Balcar made this intaglio print, "Afternoon Repast," sometime before 1968. It's all soft browns and tans, like a faded memory. The figures are ghost-like, but gathered around a table filled with bottles. I wonder what Balcar was thinking? Was it a real memory? Or a dream? The lines are so delicate, almost hesitant. It reminds me of the way I work sometimes, building up layers, scraping back, searching for a form that feels both familiar and strange. I imagine him wiping the plate, reapplying the ink, adjusting the pressure on the press, each action a small decision that accumulates to create this whole scene. There's something about the stillness of the figures that gets me, the way they seem caught between presence and absence. I’m thinking of other artists who conjured dream-like realities like Paula Rego, and, more recently, Salman Toor. It's like Balcar is showing us that painting can evoke feelings, intentions, or meanings without explaining anything. Artists are always in conversation, after all. Each piece builds on what came before and inspires what comes next.