Crazy Quilt c. 1938

William Kieckhofel created this ‘Crazy Quilt’ drawing, and I can just imagine him, maybe with his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth, carefully plotting these delicate configurations on paper. It's interesting how we use the term ‘crazy’ for things that are chaotic, but here, there’s real precision, a determined, ordered approach. Perhaps the ‘craziness’ lies in the sheer variety of patterns packed together. Look at the rhythmic, almost musical arrangement of lines, crosses, and dashes in muted reds, greens, and yellows. Each one feels like a little experiment, a variation on a theme. I’m thinking of other artists like Agnes Martin, or even Hilma af Klint, who use similar repetitive gestures to explore spiritual or emotional states. It's as if Kieckhofel is building up a personal language, one stitch at a time. Each mark, each gesture, is both individual and part of something larger, a kind of conversation happening on the page.