St. Johns, New Brunswick, Canada 1951

John Marin made this drawing of St. Johns, New Brunswick, Canada, with what looks like graphite on paper, and it's all about capturing a fleeting impression. It's like he's saying, "Here's what I saw, quickly, before it changes." The marks are so immediate, so responsive. Look at how he suggests the buildings, not with careful outlines, but with energetic scribbles. There's this raw, unfinished quality to it that I find really appealing, it gives the sense of constant movement. And then you notice how he uses the weight of the lines to suggest depth, like the heavier marks pull the foreground forward. Those loose lines in the foreground are like a stage. It reminds me a bit of Arthur Dove, in the way he tried to capture the energy of a place. It's art as a process, always in motion, never quite fixed.