Gezicht op Wesel, 1672 1900 - 1903

The Moreau brothers made this view of Wesel in 1672, with what looks like graphite or a similar dry medium. Look at how these marks build the scene, using the grain of the paper to create form with thousands of tiny lines. The surface is dry and powdery, and so much of the image is implied, like a half-remembered dream, made up of half-formed, scratchy marks. The Moreau brothers’ attention to detail doesn’t get in the way of the sense of an immediate and responsive act of image making. Consider the bottom left-hand corner, where the trees meet the river. These marks are confident and immediate. Each one is like a little decision, a note, a way to move forward. Even though they appear to build one another, they retain their individuality as gestures. This conversation between intention and accident is something I also try to orchestrate in my paintings. This feels somehow related to the landscapes of Hercules Segers. A feeling of place, or memory, built up from the most modest of means. Artmaking as an ongoing conversation.