Ross Bleckner

In this striking print, irregularly shaped dots create a rhythmic, undulating field. This oscillation between optical abstraction and biological content is typical of artist Ross Bleckner’s work. Early in the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Bleckner-who was working as an openly gay man-made abstract works that engaged with what was happening around him. Rather than speaking about in straightforward terms of infection or experience, this print suggests the subtle variation of the body.

In a 2016 interview, Bleckner explained his work as an “intersection between us being people with consciousness and awareness, and us being vectors for virus. That always has fascinated me. And that our skin is very fragile and protects us.”