Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1914

This is a postcard to Philip Zilcken, presumably made with ink on card by Anton L. Koster. The application of ink seems casual, efficient, and full of gesture, which makes me think about how the simple act of addressing a postcard can be so easily overlooked. The texture here isn’t something physical, like the impasto of oil paint, but textural as an experience – think of the difference between the smooth rhythm of cursive versus the blunt, mechanical quality of the printed type, one following the easy flow of hand and eye, the other following rules. The overall impression is one of visual disorder and mis-matched elements that nevertheless, when looked at closely, combine in an almost musical way. I’m reminded of the American artist, Jess, who also found ways to combine collage and text in ways that are at once playful and deeply thoughtful. Art making is, after all, just a form of communication, and here we can see the ways an everyday form of communication can become something beautiful and strange.