Voorblad met naam c. 1935 - 1936

This is a book cover by Thung Liang Bok, who inscribed their name into the surface, maybe with graphite or light ink. There’s not much to *see* here, but I love the idea of it as a beginning, a surface ready to be filled. I can imagine the artist in their studio, deciding on the dimensions, the weight of the paper. What kind of story will this contain? What ideas? The blankness contains possibility, like a painter’s primed canvas. I think of Agnes Martin and her delicate lines, or Robert Ryman, with his explorations of white. A simple surface becomes a field for subtle gestures. This cover is quiet, meditative, like a deep breath before the story begins.