Notities 1905

This page from a notebook by Willem Cornelis Rip is covered in pencil and ink notations. The density of the marks speaks to the process, a kind of free-associative wandering on the page. The textures here are built from layers of language. Look at the red stamp, its graphic quality contrasting with the handwritten notes. The handwriting varies – some loose scrawls, some more precise calculations. It’s got this diaristic feel, where the materiality of the page itself becomes a record of thought. See how the ink bleeds slightly into the paper, giving the lines a fuzzy edge? It’s these small details that bring you closer to the artist’s hand, the way a musician might annotate a score. Rip reminds me a little of Cy Twombly, actually, in that both use handwriting as a kind of drawing. But where Twombly goes big and gestural, Rip stays intimate, like a whispered conversation with himself. In the end, it's the not knowing what the notes mean that keeps me interested.