Incubus 1962

Robert Mallary's "Incubus" is a work on paper, it looks like a print, and you can see how process is front and center. The artist isn't trying to hide their tracks. The heavy blacks and grays give it a somber feel, almost like peering into a rain-soaked window. The way the ink is dragged down the page – it's both controlled and chaotic. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving, applying pressure, then releasing it. Look at that right-hand edge, like a squeegee leaving its mark! There is something both graphic and atmospheric about this piece. Mallary reminds me a little bit of Pierre Soulages, the way he coaxes so much depth and feeling out of the color black. But where Soulages is all about light reflecting off the surface, Mallary is pulling us into the darkness. Ultimately, art is about conversation, with each other, with the world and with ourselves.