Tegning 1971

This stark drawing by Jan Groth is all about the drama of line in black and white. Imagine the artist holding charcoal, maybe standing, maybe sitting, and then making that first long stroke – kind of tentative, feeling its way across the paper. I sympathize with the artist, they seem to be thinking about mark-making in its most simple and reduced form. He’s pushing line to its expressive limit, creating something so minimal, but so full of feeling. The lines are not just marks; they’re like pathways, or maybe electrical currents, shooting across a blank field. That cluster of vertical lines at the top? Maybe that’s where all the energy comes from, a source, a beginning. It reminds me of Brice Marden's calligraphic gestures, or even Cy Twombly’s scribbles, but with a Nordic twist. There is nothing else but these lines. It's like the artist is asking, what more do we need? Artists are always riffing off each other, responding to the past, trying to find their own voice in the conversation.