Fabius en de ARP Possibly 1920

Patricq Kroon made this ink drawing, Fabius en de ARP, on paper. I love the scratchy, raw quality of the marks, the way Kroon lets the pen run wild. It’s all about the process, the hand moving across the page, creating these figures out of pure energy. Look at the way the lines build up, layer upon layer, to create shadows and depth. The texture is almost palpable, you can feel the grit of the ink on the paper. There’s a real physicality to the medium here, an immediacy that draws you in. See how the lines around the cloaked figures on the right are less defined, giving them a spectral quality. Kroon reminds me a little bit of Otto Dix in his starkness, and his willingness to confront uncomfortable truths. But unlike Dix's portraits, this feels more raw, more gestural. Art’s about the ongoing conversation, the way we keep riffing on each other's ideas, trying to make sense of this crazy world.