Gargantua: Chapter XXV c. 1942

Bernard Reder made this print called Gargantua: Chapter XXV, probably sometime in the middle of the last century, using black ink on paper. Imagine the artist with his tools, carving into the wood, removing material to create these figures. I wonder what he was thinking about as he made these marks. It's interesting that the artist chose printmaking, given all the possibilities of painting. Look at the dynamism of the diagonal lines of the ladder and the running figures. This tension gives the whole scene its energy. It's like Reder's hand is conducting the whole scene, each mark, each line, part of this visual score. You know, all artists are in conversation with one another, working through similar problems and pushing in different directions. And each mark carries within it all this history, all this potential. I think that's the real power of painting, embracing all the ambiguity, and letting new meanings emerge.