Barn and Broken Down Silo 1935 - 1943

Charles Alston made this drawing of a barn and broken down silo with graphite on paper. See how the marks build up, creating volume and depth? It's like a storm cloud of graphite, heavy with atmosphere. I love the physicality of this piece; the way the graphite sits on the page. You can almost feel the grain of the paper through the marks. Look closely at the top corner. See the swirling, almost chaotic energy of the lines? It contrasts with the static geometry of the buildings, a kind of push and pull between order and disorder. It reminds me of some of Guston's later work, where he embraced a kind of raw, expressive mark-making. Art isn't about perfection, it's about the messy, beautiful process of seeing and feeling.