Russische beer verwoest de kerken 1920 - 1930

Patricq Kroon made "Russische beer verwoest de kerken" using ink and graphite, and you can almost smell the paper, can’t you? Imagine him hunched over this drawing. There's this bear—labeled ‘Soviet Russia’—and he’s not happy. The churches are in ruins, Christianity is being crushed, and there are men with pamphlets looking concerned. Kroon’s line is agitated and scratchy, conveying a sense of urgency, almost like he’s sketching directly from a newsreel. The composition is divided into a clear figure and ground. The figure in the foreground, rendered in careful pen strokes, contrasts the background of the bear with energetic dark marks. It reminds me of Honoré Daumier’s lithographs—the way he used caricature to make really clear political statements. You see the influence of printmaking, how the artist is using tone and line in economical ways. In our own practices, we are always picking things up from each other—a gesture, a way of seeing. It’s like a big conversation that has been going on for centuries, across different places.