Solaris I 2008

Christiane Baumgartner made this large black and white woodcut, Solaris I, and when I look at it I think of movement, speed, and the blur of the world rushing by. I feel like I’m right there with her in the tunnel, hurtling forward. I think she’s trying to figure out how to visualize speed and light. It reminds me of the Italian futurists who were obsessed with capturing the dynamism of modern life. I’m really drawn to the way she's carved those lines. They give the image a kind of vibrating energy. You can see the marks of her labor and the physicality of the process. It's like the image is built from the ground up, one line at a time. It makes me want to pick up my own tools and get to work. Baumgartner inspires me to think about how our choices as artists can open up a space for inquiry and create new ways of seeing.