Monogram GP 1874 - 1932

Mathieu Lauweriks made this monogram, GP, with ink, and it’s a lesson in the power of simple contrasts. The way the solid dark areas push against the delicate white lines makes everything pop. It's like a visual seesaw, and the balance keeps your eye dancing around. Look at the way he’s carefully put in little dots around the edges, like he’s thought about every single bit. It's like he’s building this tiny world, bit by bit. It’s hard not to think about M.C. Escher when you see this sort of play with pattern and perception, and I'm struck by the similarities of this work to the graphic quality of Gustav Klimt’s paintings. But where Klimt is opulent, this feels precise. It just goes to show, art is always talking to art, and it’s up to us to listen in.