Embarkation For Cockaigne 1937

This is Julien Alberts's "Embarkation For Cockaigne," made with etching. I love the scratchy mark-making here. It feels so raw, so immediate, like Alberts was just letting his subconscious spill onto the plate. The texture is amazing, right? Look at how the dense hatching creates these dark, almost velvety blacks. Then there are these areas of pure white, like a spotlight shining on the chaos. It’s all so physical, you can almost feel the artist digging into the metal. The woman emerging from the chimney is the mark I'm most drawn to. Alberts seems like he's plugged into the same weird, wild frequency as someone like James Ensor. They both embrace the absurd, the grotesque, and the deeply personal, reminding us that art isn't about answers, but about the messy, beautiful, never-ending conversation we have with ourselves and the world.