Eskimo Map 1976

Gene Davis made this drawing titled, *Eskimo Map*, in 1976. The hazy gray ground of raw pencil feels so distant from the warm coral and rose tones. The marks that dance across the surface like morse code make me wonder what Davis was thinking. Was he considering the graphic scores of composers like John Cage or Earle Brown? Or perhaps, like Agnes Martin, he was interested in a kind of quiet, interior mapping. The flat planes and loose, gestural marks suggest a state of mind as much as a physical space. It's like he’s inviting us to observe a system of mark-making as a translation for thought itself. I’m so moved by his ability to make visual music out of what seems like almost nothing. It just goes to show that you don’t need much to start a conversation!