The Gray Coast 1944

Stow Wengenroth made this black and white print called ‘The Gray Coast,’ and I imagine him working with intense concentration, carving into a block, making tiny marks for the rocks, the sky, the churning sea. I love how he’s translated the world into this graphic language, turning what he sees into something else. There’s something so deeply connected to his vision, a feeling for the coast, the heaviness of the rocks. It reminds me a bit of Whistler and his etchings, and I wonder if Wengenroth was looking at him, too. Artists are always in conversation with each other, even across time. Seeing how they make their marks, how they describe a world is so compelling. I can almost feel the cold spray of the ocean. Painting and printmaking is a way of thinking, a way of seeing, and a way of feeling.