Untitled 1975

Seymour Lipton made this untitled drawing on paper in 1975, and you can see how he’s feeling out the forms. The graphite has this lovely, soft touch, a real push-and-pull. Look at the shading; it’s not about being precise. It’s more about building a sense of volume and depth, like he's sculpting with the pencil. Notice how the marks aren’t blended perfectly; you can see the individual strokes working together. Take that chunky shape at the top left. It’s dark, dense, almost like a shadow, but it’s built from these energetic lines. It's like Lipton is searching for the right form, not afraid to let us see the process. I see a bit of early de Kooning in this, maybe some Gorky. You know, that feeling of raw energy, like the drawing is alive. Art’s always a conversation, right? We're all just riffing off each other.