Untitled 1970

Reuben Kadish made this untitled plate in 1970; it’s a monochrome world of etched lines, where figures emerge from a dark background. I imagine the artist bent over the plate, the acid biting into the metal, each line a deliberate cut, a scratching into the unknown. Looking at this print, I feel the push and pull of the image coming into being. Kadish is wrestling with form, trying to find a way to make these figures materialize. It reminds me of Goya's darker etchings—the way he used aquatint to create these moody, atmospheric spaces. There's a kind of rawness here, an immediacy that feels really honest. The gestures have a certain urgency, as if Kadish is trying to capture something fleeting, something just out of reach. He probably wasn't aiming for perfection, but for something a bit more rough and ready. It's like he’s saying: "Here, this is what I saw, this is what I felt. Take it or leave it." And that’s what keeps me coming back.