Mortise 1950

Louise Bourgeois made this sculpture, Mortise, and it’s like a column built from small, stacked wooden blocks, painted in red and blacks that are roughly applied. The color here is visceral and emotive. There's a tension in the making of this sculpture, between the geometry of the bricks and the vulnerability of the artist's hand. It makes you wonder about Bourgeois’ process, her choices and their implications. The roughness and the not-quite-rightness, they make this form so interesting. The texture of the blocks is tactile; you can almost feel the wood grain and the layering of the paint. Up close, you see the little imperfections, drips, and uneven surfaces. It’s the little differences that give it life, the drips and blotches that show the human touch, the hand of the artist. Bourgeois seems to be in conversation with artists like Eva Hesse. Both of them were interested in form and process, and in the way that art can express something about the body and the emotions. It's like Bourgeois is saying, "Here's something solid, but also fragile, something that’s about holding on, but also about falling apart."