Broken Window #2 1955

Ralston Crawford made this lithograph print called 'Broken Window #2' sometime during his career using black ink on a white background. I can just imagine him in the studio, really feeling this image out. It's like he's composing with shapes – shards of glass, the window frame – pushing and pulling them, until they just click into place. See how the white lines zigzag across the black? That's the moment, that's where the energy is! Crawford was super interested in industrial spaces, the way things break down and reform. It feels like he's making a connection between abstraction and the everyday. He's got this way of taking something ordinary, like a broken window, and turning it into something that makes you think. It reminds me a little of those Cubist cats playing with perspective. Ultimately, what these guys are doing is having a conversation with each other, bouncing ideas around. Painting is like a dance, and we're all invited.