Untitled 1945

This untitled cartoon was made in 1945, by the Russian collective Kukryniksy. It's all done with ink on paper, and the restricted palette, almost monochrome, really emphasizes the process of drawing, it's like watching thoughts form on the page. What’s interesting here is the varying weights of the marks, those quick, light lines that scratch out the background, almost like static, and then the heavier, more solid blacks that define the figures. It's like they're trying to trap something slippery on the page. The figure to the left, lurking behind the signing man, is almost abstract, his texture created by frenetic, scribbled lines. It’s interesting how these marks give the figure such a palpable sense of nervous energy and furtive movement. The Kukryniksy remind me of Otto Dix, who has that same ability to conjure a whole world with a few, well-placed lines. There’s a sense of art history as one long conversation. It’s never about having all the answers, it's about embracing the questions.