City 1914

Mstislav Dobuzhinsky made "City" without pinpointing when, using pencil on paper, and it feels like he's really looking, not just recording. It’s a kind of gray-green city symphony, with marks that are directional, almost like rain. I imagine him out there, maybe a little cold, squinting up at these buildings, trying to get it down just so. You can see how the side of the buildings has been rendered in light with just the faintest dusting of graphite. He varies his strokes in a manner that allows the buildings to emerge and recede. Look at the way the lines on the buildings almost tilt, like they're breathing. It reminds me a little of Piranesi, but softer. Dobuzhinsky is not just showing us the buildings, he's making us feel the weight of them, the way they loom over the sky. We're all in this conversation, you know? We're looking, we're making, and we're trying to figure out what it all means, one gesture at a time.