Aerial to Infinity 1954

Dorothy Dehner made this etching, Aerial to Infinity, sometime in her eighties. Imagine her hands, so practiced, guiding that needle across the plate. It’s a landscape, but not really, right? More like an idea of one, mapped out in delicate black lines on a silvery field. I see layers, like geological strata, or maybe sound waves rippling out. Those sharp, insistent lines are so different from the softer washes of color you see in other landscapes. It’s like she’s x-raying the scene, showing us the underlying structure. I wonder if she was thinking about all those abstract expressionist guys she knew, like David Smith? Her work is more delicate though, more ethereal. That one line, shooting straight up like an arrow, I feel like that's her, reaching for something beyond. It reminds me that as artists, we're all in conversation, borrowing, stealing, riffing off each other's ideas across time. There’s so much uncertainty in that space of not-knowing when you are making something. But it feels like the possibilities are endless.