The Trace Absence/ Presence- A Group Exhibition | Page 14

But something else, something larger, is also being acknowledged in this
exhibition. It has to do with the enduring implications of the mark in an non-
cultural, neutral sense. Any time the artist is visually active, the consequences
of art activity assume both presence and absence, what is usually understood as
positive and negative space. Even a single line on a sheet of paper intimates
these dualities. By presenting more than a few artists who have chosen to
wrestle with the double implications of mark-making, so central to the
contemporary imagination, “The Trace” successfully illustrates the laws that
bind us to visual fields created by marks and their remnants, which construct a
palimpsest that is actually a memorial to the artist’s effort. Once the action is
over, it becomes clear that we are intimating a time when it will be impossible
to participate in culture, given our mortality. Mark-making can help to soften
the blow.
Jonathan Goodman, 2017