Koeien 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel made this drawing of cows with charcoal on paper. It's all about the line, isn't it? Gestel isn't trying to trick us into thinking these are real cows in a real field. Instead, we get the essence of cow-ness. Look at the lower right; that cow is shaded in a bit, like Gestel wanted to give it some extra weight, some presence. The texture is soft, almost like velvet. It's not just about what a cow looks like, but how it feels to look at one. You can almost feel the charcoal dragging across the page, a kind of dance between the artist and the paper. You know who else was into the essence of things? Agnes Martin. Both artists remind us that sometimes, the most profound statements are made with the fewest marks. Art is all about that conversation across time, ideas bouncing off each other, morphing, and becoming something new.