Self-Portrait 1974

Sam Francis made this self-portrait using lithography. It’s all about process, right? You can see the ghost of the stone, the way the image emerges from a haze of marks. It’s not about likeness, but about something else, something maybe to do with how a face appears, disappears, and reappears. I love the way he lets the material do its thing. The surface is alive with all these tiny marks that gather to form the face. It’s not just lines, but a whole field of activity, like a swarm of bees. The eyes especially are interesting. They’re kind of droopy and knowing, but also a bit mischievous, as if he’s looking at himself looking at you. Francis’s work reminds me a little of Cy Twombly, in the sense that the image seems to emerge from chaos, the dialogue between control and accident. Art is never really finished, it’s always a conversation, an exchange of ideas.