Wrought Iron Cross, Campanario c. 1936

Cornelius Christoffels made this drawing of a wrought iron cross with graphite and colored pencil. Imagine him, standing, looking, then sitting, drawing, looking again. I wonder what Cornelius was thinking about as he rendered this object. It’s the kind of drawing you make when you're really trying to understand something, working out its presence in the world. The wrought iron cross feels so solid, so sturdy, yet here it is, translated into delicate lines. It’s about process, about how an artist can make a 3D form exist on paper. The cross becomes something else, like a ghost of itself, a memory. It puts me in mind of the work of Agnes Martin, who also had a knack for capturing the ineffable. Artists are always in conversation, aren't they? We learn from each other, build on each other's ideas, and keep the dialogue going, stretching across time and space.