Tandenpoetsen man 1972

This pencil drawing, made by Rein Dool in 1972, captures a man brushing his teeth, caught in a moment of mundane routine. It's the kind of piece where the process is so upfront, you can almost feel the artist's hand moving across the page. There's a raw honesty in the lines, a refusal to pretty things up. You see every stroke, every correction, like a map of the artist's thinking. The drawing has this incredible tension between the lightness of the lines and the weight of the subject. Look at how Dool renders the man's face; it's both comical and kind of poignant, with those thick glasses and the open mouth. And then you've got these insects pinned to the wall, like specimens in a museum. They are an eerie counterpoint to the everyday act of toothbrushing. Dool reminds me of Philip Guston, in a way, that same willingness to embrace the awkward, the ugly, the real. It’s a reminder that art doesn't have to be perfect to be powerful.