Vajda Lajos Petals on Roots, 1940, Charcoal on Paper, 90x126cm 1940

Vajda Lajos made this charcoal drawing, Petals on Roots, on paper in 1940. It's a flurry of marks; short, rhythmic lines that gather to form these strange, hybrid shapes. Looking at it, I can't help but think about how drawing is a process of layering, building up forms from simple gestures. The charcoal is dense in some areas, creating deep shadows that give the forms weight, while other areas are lighter, almost faded, allowing the paper to breathe. Notice the way Vajda uses hatching to create texture, like the cross-hatched area on the top of the form to the left; it's almost like he's weaving the image together. The overall impression is one of organic forms caught in a state of flux, neither fully plant nor fully root, but something in between. This piece reminds me a little of the surrealist landscapes of Yves Tanguy, where biomorphic shapes float in ambiguous space, but with a rawness and immediacy that's all Vajda's own. For me, it's a reminder that art doesn't always have to be about answers; sometimes it's about embracing the questions.