Contemporary Abstract & Mixed Media · square

Ribbons With Eyes: Black and White Abstract Drawing

A square black-and-white drawing made of thick, curving, interlocking shapes that look like ribbons, tubes and rounded loops. Some areas are solid black or white, while others are filled with stripes, dots, ribbing and small oval shapes. The whole design is packed tightly inside a wobbly rounded border, with a signature in the lower right.

A buyer wants this piece for the way a strict black-and-white palette is made to carry a lot. Bold ribbon-like loops and a heavy D-shaped form sit next to pockets of fine stripes, dots, ribbing and hatching, and almost every shape is filled with a different pattern. It is graphic enough to read from across a room. It also holds a viewer who walks up close and keeps finding new small details, such as eye-like ovals, banded tubes and dotted fills. Ten other black-and-white abstracts will give a pattern or a bold shape. This one gives both in a single square.

Artwork by Omaste Witkowski