Gargantua: Chapter XXII - Les jeux - ses toupis 1942

Bernard Reder made this woodcut print, Gargantua: Chapter XXII - Les jeux - ses toupis, sometime in the twentieth century. Just look at the way the black ink sits on the page, it’s almost as though it has been built up, like a collage made of tiny shapes. There’s something really physical about the process of woodcut. You can imagine Reder pushing into the wood, gouging out the material to create these forms. The textures and the contrasts play against each other, rough versus smooth. Look at the figure on the left, the way the light catches the folds of his skin, and the dark, cavernous mouth he is pulling. The artist’s process is laid bare, there is no hiding it. It reminds me a little of Beckmann, there’s something about that distortion of the figures that just grabs your attention and won't let go. Art isn't always about perfection, sometimes it is about wrestling with the material, embracing the unexpected, and finding something new in the process.