[no title] 1987

Curator: This evocative print is by Jake Berthot, a work currently held in the Tate Collections measuring roughly 61 by 45 centimeters. Editor: The tonality strikes me immediately; it feels very somber, almost like a charcoal drawing emerging from darkness. Curator: Absolutely. Berthot often explored themes of absence and presence. Consider the social context of abstract expressionism from which he emerged, reacting to trauma and the unsayable. Editor: You can see the labor in the material itself, can’t you? The visible marks and the way the ink is applied gives it a very tactile quality. Curator: Yes, and the seemingly simple form carries echoes of broader themes: loss, memory, the weight of history, even trauma. Editor: It speaks to how process and materials can convey profound emotional weight.