Rising and Sinking Sun 

Curator: This vivid linocut print, "Rising and Sinking Sun," is attributed to Karl Schrag, although it's difficult to place an exact date on its creation. Its abstract nature allows us a multitude of interpretations, don't you think? Editor: Absolutely. My immediate impression is one of primal energy. The bold red against the yellow is quite striking, almost violent in its simplicity. There's a definite tension created by the duality of rising and sinking, a sort of push and pull between creation and destruction. Curator: I find myself drawn to the symbolism here. The sun, of course, represents life, energy, and power across countless cultures. But Schrag's choice to depict it simultaneously rising and setting introduces an element of cyclical time, the ever-turning wheel of existence. What cultural weight do you believe that has, if any? Editor: It feels incredibly relevant right now, actually. Consider the historical moment, or any moment really!— of empires rising and falling, social movements gaining and losing momentum... the sun embodies all those narratives, too. I read this tension between rising and falling as representing systems or peoples or even the earth herself reaching its own critical mass, on the cusp of evolution. Curator: Yes, but I think it's also important to see the archetypal perspective—consider that the duality within us, the ongoing tension between hope and despair, action and passivity. Schrag captures something fundamental about the human condition, using stark abstract images. There's an enduring quality about it, because that rising and setting cycle exists within us at every moment, like a microcosm. Editor: But is the psychological always separable from the political and social, and vice versa? Even an individual's sense of hope and despair are inherently shaped by power structures. Curator: Maybe they are not. It shows a sort of wholeness. I find something so deeply resonant. I love seeing those archetypes in what appears to be such simple image. Editor: Right. That tension between something both so huge, universal, while feeling like such a miniature scale is something to meditate on in these interesting times. Curator: Indeed. Thanks to Schrag for capturing that essential dialectic with such memorable visuals!