Colorado #8 1951

Emerson Woelffer made this black and white print, Colorado #8, using a reductive approach that feels like he was carving light out of darkness. I love the push and pull of the thick blacks against the stark white paper. There is this big, gestural swirl, like a cosmic eye, that dominates the upper left and shoots out rays of light. Woelffer’s clearly embracing the physicality of the medium, the way the ink sits on the surface, creating a tactile experience. It’s not just about what’s depicted, but how it’s depicted. Woelffer was really into the language of abstraction. Looking at this, I can’t help but think of Franz Kline, another artist who used bold, black strokes to create dynamic compositions. Like Kline, Woelffer shows us how powerful a simple palette can be, and how much expression can be packed into a single, well-placed mark. It’s all about the conversation between artists, a back-and-forth across time and space, exploring the endless possibilities of art.