Bike Run c. 1968

Curator: There’s an intensity radiating from this print, almost claustrophobic, what’s your immediate read? Editor: A tangle. I feel trapped, disoriented, and perhaps even burdened by a shared, cyclical struggle, but let's provide some context. We're looking at John Nathaniel Fenton's "Bike Run," an etching from around 1968. Curator: An etching, yes. The artist coaxes life from ink through incredibly subtle details. A sense of struggle is there, that is why I find it interesting: look how Fenton suggests motion with those dark lines! It's like they’re caught in a loop, which speaks to the anxieties around that time. Editor: Indeed. Mid-century anxieties were high. This image, with its repeated figures laboring around bike wheels, could easily be read as a commentary on the existential dread of repetitive labor and the individual's place within a rapidly mechanizing society, particularly through the lens of post-industrial capitalism. The faces tell this story better than anything. Curator: True, each expression has a distinct narrative. There is resignation on their faces, not victory or hope, but they have the courage to push further, one after another. This seems pretty modern for the sixties, don't you think? Editor: It pushes boundaries in its presentation of the male figure in what was, especially then, almost an openly vulnerable pose. It goes deeper than that even—perhaps speaking to gendered expectations. The black and white amplifies these feelings by giving a lack of options. Curator: I keep being drawn back to that upper figure clad in polka dots: a masked acrobat in a play within a play, what do you make of them? Editor: Juxtaposed against the more plainly drawn figures, it creates an interesting tension between the performative and the authentic, no? Maybe this patterned individual reminds us of the constant pressure to perform and meet these expectations? Curator: An interpretation to sit with. Despite its intensity, there is room to breathe, which makes “Bike Run” such a marvel to absorb. Editor: Indeed, it layers quite different but palpable meanings which are brought together within a single print.