Pompeiian Mosaic c. 1950 - 1955

Leonard Pytlak made this piece, Pompeiian Mosaic, using printmaking techniques. It's all about layering here, like building up memories or the fragmented remnants of a dream. The colors are muted, earthy – reds and browns that feel ancient, like the frescoes unearthed in Pompeii. Check out the way the black lines crisscross, they’re almost violent, but they create a structure, a framework for the softer shapes to exist within. And then, there's that central form, a ghost-like presence, almost like a doily, rendered in delicate white and grey. Is it lace? Or something more spectral? It draws you in. Pytlak’s work reminds me of Cy Twombly, someone else who embraced the beauty of imperfection, the poetry of ruins. Art's an ongoing conversation, a constant remix of ideas and emotions. There's a lot of room for interpretation.