Studie af grene 1915 - 1924

This is Gudrun Traustedt’s ‘Studie af grene’ or ‘Study of Branches’, a drawing on paper. It's all about mark-making isn't it? You can just see her process. There's a tenderness to the pencil strokes, like she's tracing the veins of a leaf. It’s like she is letting her hand grow along with the branches. See how the dense marks at the top become these soft, gentle strokes towards the bottom? Almost like the weight of gravity pulling the branches down, but then look at the base of the tree where the dark marks return, solidifying the base and rooting it to the earth. I’m reminded of Agnes Martin. It’s so economical, but it says so much. Artists like to explore the ambiguity of the world, and celebrate the multiple ways we can see and experience things.