Utopia Study #18 1975

Benny Andrews made this drawing, Utopia Study #18, with pen, ink, and collage on paper, and what strikes me is how he creates a sense of place with such minimal means. The colour palette is restrained, almost monochromatic, yet the image feels complete. It’s the physicality of the materials that draws me in – the way the ink bleeds slightly into the paper, the rough edges of the collaged elements. The lower part of the drawing is a kind of red-orange haze, as if the soil of this Utopia is made of fire, or perhaps it represents the energy it will take to build a new society. The figures in the little pool are sketched lightly, almost like ghostly presences. The pen strokes are confident, yet delicate, giving the impression of a world in formation. Thinking about artists who make drawings like this, I'm reminded of Philip Guston, who similarly mixed figuration and abstraction with a raw, expressive line. Like Guston, Andrews embraces ambiguity, inviting us to project our own desires and anxieties onto this imagined world.