Target 1992

Emma Amos made this print called ‘Target’ and the date is unknown, but the way she's approached the making of it feels so fresh. You can tell that Amos had fun in the process of artmaking, using a loose hand and expressive brushwork. What grabs me most is the materiality; the layering of color, the transparency and opacity of the inks, and the way she lets the textures speak. See how the red figure on the left is built up of lots of energetic strokes? It feels alive. Then there's the target itself, a mix of green and red, and those loose brushstrokes giving it a wobbly, imperfect energy. It's like she's saying, hey, targets aren't so precise after all. Amos's work, with its mix of figuration and abstraction, reminds me of the work of Bob Thompson. Both artists had a way of using color and form to explore identity and history, inviting us to see the world in new ways. With Amos, it’s not about having all the answers, but about embracing the questions.