Hemlock 1928

John Farleigh made this print called Hemlock, and the whole image is charged with black ink. I think I know that feeling, that desire to cover a surface with a rich, dark mark. Farleigh's got this dramatic chiaroscuro thing happening, right? Bold contrasts are always so exciting for a painter. It's like he's carving out these plants from a block of night. Imagine the focus it takes, deciding what to leave in the light and what to bury in the dark. It's a dance, you know, this back and forth between control and letting the material lead. It's interesting to think about other printmakers, like Dürer, and how they wrestled with similar problems. We are all in conversation across time, borrowing and riffing off each other's ideas. What stays and what goes? That’s the question all artists ask themselves, and it’s never a sure thing.