Algemeen Handelsblad / Dinsdag 21 mei 1957 Possibly 1957

This is a newspaper, Algemeen Handelsblad, from May 21, 1957. The marks are all printed; this isn't a painting, but it is an artwork. It is a record of an event in a particular moment in time, and it's so visually arresting even now. Look closely at the images and the way they're printed; grainy and ghostlike. The way the different fonts of the headlines and articles jostle each other on the page. Each section of the paper has its own texture. It's a whole world, contained in this one object. You could see the layering of information as a kind of collage, a proto-pop art image made from the everyday. Like Kurt Schwitters' Merz constructions, it elevates the mundane into something beautiful and strange. Newspapers always remind me of Rauschenberg, too. They're both about the messy simultaneity of life, you know? It's like they're saying, "Hey, the world is chaotic and overwhelming, but it's also kind of amazing."