Tic-Tac-Toe 1962

Reva Urban made this ink drawing called Tic-Tac-Toe sometime between 1925 and 1987. What grabs me is how she’s wrestling with the idea of a game, but turning it into something so much more turbulent. You can see the evidence of her process in the way the ink is laid down - sometimes a wash, sometimes a thick, juicy stroke. The paper peeks through, especially around the edges, giving it this wonderful sense of depth and layering. It's like she's building up the image, then partly erasing it, then building it up again. There's this big, bold X on the right, contained within a kind of rectangle, but it’s all off-kilter, like the game has exploded. Those loose, looping lines remind me a bit of Cy Twombly, that sense of playful, restless energy. It's a reminder that art, like a game, can be about experimenting, making mistakes, and finding something unexpected along the way.