Ross Quarry 1973

Malcolm Rice made this drawing, Ross Quarry, with pencil on paper. It shows the cut faces of a rock quarry in dense, hard lines. I love to think about the artist holding the pencil, pressing it down, scraping it against the grain of the paper. It's like Rice is trying to get at the sheer, geological weight of the rocks themselves. You know, the making of a drawing or painting is a site of inquiry for both the artist and us, the viewer. With each mark and line, the artist is posing a question, and we're right there with them, figuring it out. What was Rice thinking as he constructed this vision? Maybe something about how the man-made changes the natural, or maybe he just loved rocks. Whatever it was, I feel like I'm looking into his mind, watching it all unfold.