Composition #8 for Trash 1971

Benny Andrews made this drawing, Composition #8 for Trash, with what looks like graphite or ink on paper. It's all about the line here, and how a simple mark can suggest a whole world. Look how Andrews uses the lines to create shapes and shadows, but they never quite fill in. It's like he’s inviting us to complete the picture ourselves, to imagine the textures and colors that aren’t explicitly there. The surface of the paper is left bare, which feels honest and direct. There's a figure casting a long shadow that stretches out like a path. Is it leading somewhere? Or is it just a trick of the light? That’s what I love about Andrews's work; it embraces this kind of ambiguity. It reminds me a little of Guston’s later drawings, these raw, pared-down images that hint at something deeper.