Forest Lake with Yellow Lilies 1980

Maria Bozoky made this small watercolor and ink drawing, Forest Lake with Yellow Lilies, working with a practiced hand. She used traditional art materials, but there is nothing conventional about the scene depicted. Note the layering of translucent washes of color, punctuated by dense, dark linework. These marks don't just describe the scene, they almost seem to generate it. Bozoky isn't interested in naturalistic representation. Instead, the overall impression of the drawing is more emotionally evocative, like a half-remembered dream. The effect is achieved with what we might call 'drawing under drawing.' In other words, the initial sketch is not erased, or painted over, but rather remains as a kind of ghostly presence. It's a bit like automatic writing, a technique used by the Surrealists to unlock unconscious thought. The real strength of Bozoky's image is its commitment to the handmade. The work is not concerned with slickness or artifice, but with the raw, direct expression of an individual vision. It's a reminder that art doesn't always have to be polished to be powerful.