356 1993

This is "356", a print by Jaroslav Prásil. Red ink has been worked to build an active surface that vibrates, and which makes you feel like you could fall into it. Looking closer, you see that the texture of the whole field comes from tiny V shapes, like a field of chevrons, stacked tightly together. Each mark carries the trace of the artist's hand, and you can imagine the meditative labor involved in making this print. The single vertical stripe interrupts the red field and throws the texture into relief. It’s like a door, or a missing piece. The overall redness feels charged, even slightly aggressive. It puts me in mind of Ad Reinhardt’s late black paintings, which have a similar all-over texture. Like those works, this print shows us that abstract art is more than just decoration. It’s a space for thinking and feeling.