Untitled 2017

This untitled drawing was made by EtchingRoom1 in 2016, and look at the way that the surface is worked! The hatching feels like a world in itself, doesn't it? The materials here, they're humble. The artist uses line and tone to create something which is kind of epic! See how the artist mixes different levels of finish, or completion? The figure on the left is a mass of unfinished straight lines, like a geometric block. I love the way the artist creates a crowd of marks above the whole image, the kind of marks that could be anything - a flock of birds, or maybe just a textural ground. This picture reminds me of the work of Philip Guston. He showed us that painting doesn't need to be slick or perfect. He wasn't afraid to use whatever means were available to him to try and get something true. That's what I get from this picture, too.