Weng Pixin’s Ode to Agnes Martin

“I have memories of seeing Agnes Martin’s paintings in library books as a college student and going ‘what is this?’” says comic artist Weng Pixin. “My feelings changed completely when I encountered them at MoMA in 2011. Standing in front of them, I was mesmerized by the slow tenderness with which Martin made her art.” Author of the graphic novels Sweet Time and Let’s Not Talk Anymore, Pixin created January’s Drawn to MoMA to commemorate National Mental Wellness Month. “When I learned about Martin’s struggle with schizophrenia, I could imagine how her work process must have been helpful for her,” says Pixin. “She measured, calculated, drew repeating lines, and then applied soft, creamy pastel colors with a steady hand. This seems like a wonderful meditative practice she crafted for herself.”

Weng Pixin (or Pix for short) was born in 1983 and grew up in sunny Singapore, an island located along the equator. When Pix was a child, her father used to tell her stories—stories that reflected his curious nature. When Pix began making art, she wanted to express that same curious nature in her semi-autobiographical comics.

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