Notities, waaronder adressen 1907

This not-quite-a-painting by Willem Cornelis Rip is rendered in graphite on paper. It’s a page of jotted notes, a personal document, and something in-between! I imagine Rip grabbing a pencil, maybe on the run, and just starting to scratch down thoughts, ideas, or maybe just addresses and amounts, one after the other. His marks begin to pile up in a kind of material density, a record of all his wanderings. I love how the drawing seems to hover between intention and accident, where the process of writing becomes a kind of automatic drawing. The texture of the graphite creates a sense of depth and atmosphere. I also enjoy how the commercial sticker creates an interruption to Rip's mark-making. Looking at this piece I’m reminded that artists are in constant conversation, riffing on each other’s approaches across time. Every mark, every choice is loaded with historical and personal meaning. Painting, drawing, writing, whatever – it’s all just a conversation that never ends.