Bonito-Rapoport Shoes 1979

Sonya Rapoport made this work, Bonito-Rapoport Shoes, on what looks like a long continuous sheet of dot matrix printer paper with line after line of tiny holes running down either side – the kind you’d use to print out data, maybe in the early days of computers? The work is full of inscriptions and stamps in different colors; it’s very graphic and linear, with the whole thing full of very careful drawings of artifacts, pottery and old shoes. Maybe it came into being little by little through layering, testing, and chance encounters. I can imagine Rapoport carefully imprinting each mark, perhaps thinking of the way different cultures and epochs are layered in archaeological digs. You see the red and brown markings on a pale, matte ground, creating all sorts of visual rhythms and associations. The lines almost seem to vibrate, resonating with a kind of generative energy I associate with artists like Paul Klee. The work reminds us that artists are always in conversation, building on each other’s ideas. Rapoport’s work expresses a sense of curiosity that embraces many possibilities for seeing and feeling.