Hawk 1963

Misch Kohn’s print of a hawk is rendered in black ink against a pale ground. The ink seems to drip down the bird’s body, like a melancholic rain. I love the physicality of printmaking. Kohn coaxes out a full-bodied image of a hawk from a restricted palette. The network of marks somehow captures the weight and volume of the bird. Look closely and you can see how the lines vary in thickness and intensity. See how a tangle of curved lines forms the wings, in contrast to the strong vertical drips on the body? It’s almost like the bird is simultaneously taking form and falling apart. The way Kohn varies the marks to give the image both depth and flatness reminds me of Philip Guston’s prints. Maybe art’s not about answers, but about different ways of seeing and feeling.