the poetry of electro-tubes...

"drawing is a way of learning, a way of finding a truth.
a line commences somewhere, gathers momentum,
spends its energy and comes to an equilibrium
equivalent to a life-cycle.
it could also be said that it establishes its norm
out of balance and dimension.
i draw what i don't know in order to learn something about it.
electro-tubes are extensions as well as magnifications
of our senses.
neither our senses nor the tubes can be faked.
they wouldn't work.
the same physical laws that condition the existence of the tube
are at work in the drawing, if it is to be any good.
there is no place for non constituents.
each and every part is so integrated
that a change by removal or addition would be destructive.
objects can change their form without changing their dimension."

harry bertoia, arts and architecture magazine, 1944
images: two small bertoia monotypes, early 1940's