Water Cooler c. 1940

John Tarantino’s "Water Cooler," is a drawing of a ceramic vessel of some kind. I am thinking about that dark cobalt blue scrolling floral motif, and how the artist would have worked with the form. As a painter myself, I like to imagine what it might have been like to create this, how the artist's hand moved, what their intentions were, and what that blue felt like. The painting almost embodies the history of art itself, echoing folk traditions. You can sense the artist deeply connecting with earlier forms of expression, riffing on them. It makes me consider how artists, like Tarantino, are in an ongoing conversation across time. The history of art is not just a timeline but a living, breathing dialogue, where each artist is inspired by, and responds to, what came before, and what’s happening now. It’s a big, beautiful, messy conversation, and each mark is a contribution to it.