First Etching [left panel] 1980

This is Joel Fisher's "First Etching [left panel]". It's one half of a diptych, made using etching on paper. Up close, you can see how the whole thing is just barely there, this whisper of an image. There’s this subtle, rectangular ghost floating on the right, a zone that’s almost, but not quite, whiter than the rest. It's like Fisher is playing with the idea of negative space, the not-there, as the subject of the work. The paper itself has this rough, handmade quality with irregular edges, giving it an almost sculptural presence. This reminds me of Agnes Martin and her delicate, minimalist grids. Both artists are pushing the limits of their materials to explore themes of perception and presence, revealing the profound in the seemingly simple. Art, after all, is a conversation, a way of seeing and re-seeing what’s right in front of us.