Week #46, Rhythmic Lines III

Untitled (Black Lines), 1986, ink on paper, 9” x 6”

Herewith our third work on paper by Dusti Bongé featuring lines used in a rhythmic composition. Like the previous works it illustrates how the simplest of gestures used repetitively can create a dynamic whole. 

This work has a combination of lighter and heavier black felt tip pen strokes that are fairly densely spaced. And, as in the previous works, the lines here too are loosely parallel and of slightly uneven lengths, creating variation both at the top and bottom edge. The differing weights of the lines seems accidental, the result of the intuitive repetitive motion of mark making. and of how much pressure, and at what angle, Dusti applied to the pen while going through the motion. Both the weight and length fluctuations of the marks together result in a degree of freedom and looseness, despite the rigidness of the linear pattern.

Unlike in the previous works, the austerity of the dominating vertical parallels in this composition is interrupted, at different heights across it, by short, determined, horizontal marks. Their respective locations along the field of verticals move up and down in a rhythm of their own, like fingers fretting a guitar. Indeed, this piece achieves a musical quality.

And again, there are two enigmatic black dots. Located to the right, and outside of, the main configuration, they are perhaps the musical coda.