Cattle Brand c. 1936

J. Henry Marley made this image of a cattle brand, we don't know when, on what looks like paper. The graphic simplicity of the mark-making here is striking, it’s like a kind of shorthand for something much larger than itself, and it’s interesting to think of artmaking in this way, as a process of distillation, of trying to capture something essential with just a few strokes. Look at how the black ink sits on the surface, thick and opaque, suggesting a direct, almost forceful application. You can almost feel the artist’s hand moving across the paper. Each curve and line has a weight and presence, contributing to the overall impact of the piece. There’s a real conversation happening between the artist and the material. Think of other artists that reduce form to this level of basic graphic understanding, like Ellsworth Kelly, or Agnes Martin, whose work embraces ambiguity and multiple interpretations.