Nocturn Matinal 1970

Antoni Tapies made this intriguing Nocturn Matinal using lithography, and you can just feel the process, can't you? The whole thing sits on a quiet field of beige, like a whisper of dawn. But then, bam, a circular swash of taupe bursts forth, loosely contained. Inside, this little white square pops like a forgotten dream. Someone scribbled frantic black lines on top of it, and there are just enough small dots sprinkled around to make you wonder if they're stars, or maybe just a sign of something else entirely. Tapies' work often plays with these kinds of subtle textures and simple forms. He and Cy Twombly, they both embraced the raw and the rudimentary, scribbles and scrawls become profound. It’s not about perfection, it’s about the gesture, the feeling, the mark left behind. So, what do you see in those marks? What secrets do you think the nocturn holds?