El Greco 1903

This image of El Greco, made by Timothy Cole, is an engraving, a method where the image is incised into a plate. It’s all about line here, right? How lines can build up a sense of volume, even light itself. Check out the ruff around El Greco’s neck. See how Cole uses tiny, precise lines to create the illusion of folds and texture? It’s kind of wild, the way a bunch of marks can suddenly become fabric. And then notice the way the face emerges out of the darker ground, those eyes looking right at you. Engraving is such a physical process. You’re digging into the material, making something out of pure labor. In a way, it’s like painting, but instead of adding, you’re taking away. It reminds me of Vija Celmins’ drawings, how she uses painstaking detail to render objects with incredible presence. There’s a conversation happening across time, artists responding to artists, marks echoing marks. Art, it's all just one big, beautiful, ongoing process.