Unfriendly Man over the City 1946

Hans Orlowski made this print, "Unfriendly Man over the City," with a real urgency in the mark-making; it's all about contrast. Look at the textures! It's incredible how Orlowski coaxes so much out of simple hatching and cross-hatching. Take the giant's torso, the way the lines follow and describe the folds of his clothes makes him seem to be bursting out of them; this isn’t just a rendering of light and shadow, it's a process of bringing form into being. I love how the buildings are so solid, while the figure almost dematerializes into the dark sky, especially around those strange feather-like hairs. There’s something of Edvard Munch's dark vision in this image, don’t you think? But ultimately, the real power here is in the artist’s hand, carving out a space for feeling. It's this conversation, this give-and-take between the artist, the material, and the image, that makes art so endlessly fascinating.