Studio Interior 1947

Franz Kline made this drawing of a studio interior using brush and ink on paper. You can really sense the artist at work here; the process is right there on the surface. The drawing captures a space, but it's not really about representing a room. Look closely, and you’ll see how the lines wobble, suggesting a space that’s more felt than seen. There's a kind of raw honesty to the mark-making. It feels so immediate and direct, like he’s just letting the ink flow. There’s a real confidence in those strokes. Take, for example, the way he renders the easel. It's just a few lines, but they convey everything you need to know. Kline's work reminds me a little of Joan Mitchell's in that way, both of them making something new out of the legacy of Abstract Expressionism. Art's always a conversation, right? It's never really finished, and it doesn't have to be.