Portraits 1962

Jerome Kaplan made this ‘Portrait’ with ink, and you can really feel the push and pull of the medium. It's like a dance between control and chance. I'm drawn to how Kaplan uses the ink—sometimes thick and opaque, other times almost transparent, like a wash. The texture is so varied, you can almost feel the bristles of the brush and the grain of the paper. Check out the dense marks around the head and shoulders. The way the ink bleeds and feathers out, it creates this sense of energy, like the figure is emerging from the shadows or dissolving into them. There's a rawness to this piece that reminds me of some of the gestural abstraction you see in de Kooning. But Kaplan’s piece has its own distinct voice, a kind of quiet intensity that invites you to look closer, to feel the weight of the ink and the mystery of the subject. It's a reminder that art is about process, about feeling, and about embracing the unknown.