Untitled

Jan Groth is best known as a maker of tapestries with abstract designs that explore the relationship between form and field, line and picture plane. But he also works in other media, including crayon drawings and metal sculpture. Groth has said that his work is about “the balance between almost something and almost nothing.” The present drawing, a quick crayon scrawl on paper, literally embodies that philosophy. Though his drawings are closely connected to his tapestries, in many ways the two are the antithesis of one another. In 1968, his weaving practice switched from white backgrounds to black. The drawings retain a black-on-white sensibility. His weaving is laborious and performed as a collaborative process. The drawings are quickly made as a solo act. The tapestries are as monumental as the drawings are intimate. As such, Groth’s drawings present a whole other side to his creativity.