Untitled (Hauling Out a Log) c. 1935

William J. Scott made this etching, Untitled (Hauling Out a Log), sometime around the 1930s. Notice how Scott uses these tight, rhythmic lines to build up the image. It’s all about labor, isn’t it? Labor to make the image, labor in the image. Look at the arms of the figures. They remind me of the way Guston used to render limbs. Like heavy sausages. The musculature is all described with this looping, almost frantic mark making. The whole scene is kind of sweaty, busy. I can almost hear the strain, the grunts of these guys as they wrestle the log out of the earth. It reminds me that art is work. It’s not just some airy-fairy concept. It's about getting your hands dirty, wrestling with the material, and trying to bring something into being. And that’s beautiful, right? That effort, that struggle.