Shell 1935

Paul Landacre made this print of a shell with wood engraving, and what a patient, mesmerizing, and almost hypnotic process this must have been! The mark-making feels systematic and incredibly controlled, as though Landacre had to surrender to the material and the rhythm of the line. I wonder if he felt like he was in conversation with the shell, or if he was just trying to describe its surface and its form, its being. In looking closely, I think I can see a tension in the work: a dance between the organic and the geometric. The cross-hatching effect makes me think of Agnes Martin's grids. I find myself admiring the care and precision of his lines. There’s something meditative about it. Artists work in relation to one another; and that is part of how we find new ways of seeing and expressing ourselves.