Biljartspelende geraamten 1903

James Ensor made this frenetic drawing of skeletons playing billiards with ink on paper. The marks have a scratchy, nervous quality that I find very appealing. It’s that sense of something unresolved and ongoing, of a search. I am struck by the ochre ground and how the thin, washy ink lines hover on top of it. Look at the skeleton balancing upside down, precariously perched on the side of the pool table; his form is all spidery lines. I love the way Ensor captures a body in motion, or rather in arrested motion, each figure frozen in time and space. There's a real feeling of animation, in both senses of the word. Ensor has this dark, absurdist humor that reminds me of Philip Guston. Like Guston, Ensor embraces a certain awkwardness and ugliness, finding beauty in the grotesque. Ultimately, this drawing is a reminder that art isn’t about answers, but about the questions we ask and how we ask them.