Two Forms in One 1958

N. Krishna Reddy created this print, Two Forms in One, sometime in the mid twentieth century. It's a real process piece, a kind of material experiment. The layering of colors and textures, the building up and wiping away – you can sense Reddy figuring it out as he goes. There's a tension in the image between the organic and the geometric. Look at the center, where a burst of red seems to be contained by this rigid structure of lines, like veins maybe. Then your eye is drawn out to the edges, where these dark, amorphous shapes seem to push against the frame. There's something so tactile about it. You can almost feel the texture of the plate, the way the ink has been pressed and pulled across the surface. It puts me in mind of Stanley William Hayter, with his innovative printmaking and surrealist leanings. But Reddy brings a whole different sensibility to it. He's not afraid to let the materials lead the way, to embrace accident and ambiguity. It's a reminder that art is always a conversation.