Untitled (Rooftops) c. 1936

John P. Heins made this print of rooftops, sometime during his lifetime using etching. I love how the world gets flattened and tilted. I can see him there, squinting with one eye, trying to transcribe what he sees. It's like he’s thinking about Cubism. A bit like Picasso and Braque, but with chimneys instead of guitars. Maybe Heins looked up and saw this jagged geometry and felt compelled to draw it. The dark ink lines feel almost like a dare – how much information can you convey with so little? The texture of the rooftops is built from hatched lines that create a dense, almost velvety surface. The light and shadow do all the work here, turning mundane architecture into something kind of grand. The great thing about art is how one person’s vision can trigger something in someone else, even years later. Art is always a conversation, right?