Europa 1942

Hugh Mesibov’s Europa is a black and white print, made with a linocut most likely. I imagine the artist carving away at the block, revealing this raw, expressionistic scene. I feel for the artist, imagining him consumed by the weight of history, carving out each black mark, each jagged line. What might he have been thinking about when he made this print? The chains, the gallows, the distorted figures...it's like a scream pressed onto paper. Look at the texture he's created with the linocut. It's rough, almost violent, and each mark feels deliberate, charged with emotion. It reminds me of the German Expressionists. It’s almost like the work of Kollwitz. Artists are constantly in conversation with each other, riffing off ideas, pushing boundaries. Painting, printing, it’s all about digging deep and expressing something that can’t be put into words. There are many ways of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world.