Untitled 2001

This is an Untitled print by Tess Jaray, and what grabs me first is the colour and the structure. I love how Jaray uses a very pale pink and this grid structure to create a feeling of almost architectural space. There’s an interesting tension here between the flat surface of the paper and the implied depth of the geometric forms, and the slightly off-register printing gives the piece an almost handmade feel. Look at how those lines intersect, and you can see it’s not perfect. That evidence of the artist’s hand, even in a print, is what makes it sing. I feel a kinship with this use of hard-edged form. This reminds me of Sol LeWitt, but with a warmer, more human touch. Jaray's work, like LeWitt's, shows how systematic approaches can still lead to unexpected and beautiful results, and how artmaking can be a process of discovery, rather than just a means to an end. Isn’t it nice when something that looks so precise can also feel so alive?