I-Special 1916

Here's my take on O'Keefe's "I-Special," a drawing made with graphite on paper. I imagine O’Keeffe at work here, building layer upon layer to make this image appear from what was once a blank page. The drawing, dominated by tonal variations of gray, shows a central vertical form with a drop-like shape at the top, connected by a thin line running downwards. This central form is flanked by softer, wing-like shapes on either side. She returns to these kinds of organic forms again and again. How can one read these biomorphic shapes? I think O'Keeffe felt the ambiguity as a strength, and maybe it was a way for her to think through what a painting can do, what a drawing can suggest. There's an openness, an invitation for us to bring our own associations to it. And that’s the special part. It’s a dialogue, not a declaration.