Shepherds 1925

Martiros Sarian made this drawing, Shepherds, in 1925 with what looks like graphite on paper. The marks feel so present, so much like a dance, it reminds us that art is a process. There's such a lovely roughness to this work, a sketchiness that keeps it open. The texture of the graphite on the paper is really visible, which makes you feel like you could reach out and touch it. And look at the way he defines those hills with these loose hatching marks, it really evokes the feeling of a landscape that's both solid and shifting. I particularly like the way the figures are drawn with such economy, just a few lines to suggest the forms of the Shepherds, cows and sheepdog. Sarian reminds me of Marsden Hartley, in the way he could take a simple motif and imbue it with such depth and emotion. And I guess that's the beauty of art, it's not about perfect representation, but about capturing a feeling, an idea, a moment in time.