Untitled (Christmas Card) 1954

Adja Yunkers made this Christmas card sometime in 1954 using printmaking techniques. I love that the color palette is mostly monochromatic, but with one small, bright red shape, like a little burst of energy right there in the middle. Looking at the texture, you can almost feel the graininess of the print, and the way the ink spreads and catches on the paper. It’s not trying to be slick or perfect; it's all about the process. You can see the hand of the artist in every mark. It’s like he’s saying, “Hey, here’s a little piece of me, a little bit of my world.” I keep coming back to the way that small red dot sings out from the card. Yunkers, like his contemporary Milton Avery, embraced simplification and abstraction to convey deeper emotional truths. Both artists remind us that art is less about what you see and more about how you feel, and that ambiguity is where the magic really happens.