Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1905

This 'Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken', of unknown date, by Vittorio Pica, is made from paper, ink, and a stamp. It’s pale and marked with the traces of sending, that process of attempted, though often failed, communication. I love the way that the handwriting seems to both be present and disappearing. It’s only just there, but like the traces of erasure in a de Kooning, these marks suggest more than they show, pointing to a process of making and unmaking, saying and unsaying. The postmark, a circular smudge, sits like a ghostly halo over the faint lines of the letter. It makes me think of Rauschenberg erasing De Kooning – what is lost and gained in acts of mark making. I wonder if Pica had Joseph Beuys in mind when he made this work; both artists share an interest in ephemerality and process. Ultimately, this piece invites us to consider art as a form that embraces ambiguity.