Ubu 1974

Enrico Baj made this plate, Ubu, in 1974. The imagery is cartoonish, playful, and maybe a little scary, and the character has a crude but expressive quality in the drawing. Looking at the plate, you can really see the artist's hand in the execution of the character. Each element has been carefully rendered, and the artist leaves the mark of the pen or brush visible on the surface. Take, for example, the head of the figure; you can see the pink stippling texture and the graphic nature of the 'hair.' It's not about hiding the process but embracing it, showing the labor, but with playful energy. Baj's Ubu reminds me a little of Joan Miró’s work, which also embraces abstraction and figuration. Like Miró, Baj is interested in a sort of visual language that embraces both the known and unknown, or art as an ongoing conversation that evolves and embraces ambiguity.