Gargantua: Chapter XVII 

Curator: Well, hello there! Immediately, this artwork makes me think of a medieval bestiary springing to life. Editor: Exactly! Before us we have what's titled, "Gargantua: Chapter XVII," a woodcut print by Bernard Reder. It's an earthy little narrative. Grotesque, too. Curator: Absolutely, this piece pulses with what I can only describe as carnivalesque energy. The layered symbols tell a curious tale. I find myself wondering, what underlying folklore inspired this composition, with this beast juxtaposed with what looks like an architectural monument. Editor: Its intimate scale draws you right in, doesn't it? A tender beast looming large—I find myself lost in the moment, forgetting entirely about plotlines! Just that intense visual sensation, you know? A sense of something…primordial, I think. But I get such conflicting feelings about that creature. What IS it? Part horse, part rhino… and wearing some sort of ceremonial cape, is it? Curator: The artist truly wants us to decode a mythos! In that sense, the animal might function more like an emblematic stand-in rather than a realistic depiction. Its ambiguousness encourages us to project meaning onto it. Editor: It has those heavy lines characteristic of woodcut prints, of course. It looks a bit like an early illuminated manuscript, which has its own sort of…heaviness, and its own darkness, its own mysteries to keep. Curator: Very astute! This choice in medium—woodcut—certainly connects with historical modes of storytelling through symbolic, visual language, which is evocative of mythic narratives that endure precisely through these sorts of familiar depictions. I see themes of power, excess and perhaps, a critique of the body. What’s clear, above all, is a commitment to story. Editor: Hmm, the body as monument. That’s a fresh way of reading it. But I'm still reeling from those textures. I bet this little image could tell stories that could be felt, tasted even! What a rich, suggestive artwork! Curator: Agreed, that's a truly great image, revealing unexpected cultural memory. Editor: Reder, you had me at hello!