Euripides/Medea 1964

Imre Reiner made this print, called Euripides/Medea. Look at the frenetic energy of the marks, how they hover and collide on the grey ground. I wonder, how did Reiner arrive at these images? What kind of process did he use to get them to surface? I imagine him scratching away, searching for form and line, the narrative slowly revealing itself. It’s like a game of hide-and-seek. The lines are raw and unrefined, carrying a raw emotionality. That mouth wide open, what’s he yelling about? And the figure above, reclining, indifferent? The scene is intense and unsettling. Reiner is in conversation with other artists across time, riffing on mythology. We see the continuation of ideas, evolving and transforming. Painting is a continuous act of questioning. It embraces uncertainty. It is a space where things can shift and change, and a space where multiple interpretations are not only possible but also desirable.