Nails and Pins c. 1937

Wellington Blewett made this drawing, Nails and Pins, with graphite and colored pencil. It's so direct, so unfussy, it feels like Blewett just picked up whatever was lying around to hand. I'm drawn to the way the nails and pins just float there on the pale ground, which looks like paper. Blewett's delicate gradations of tone are beautiful; in the pins, look closely and you’ll see the graphite has a metallic gleam, like the objects themselves. The sharp points make me slightly nervous, like they could prick you, even on paper. There’s something so domestic about the humble materials and subject matter, and yet in their own way, the pins and nails remind me of Constantin Brancusi’s sculptures, with their pared-down, abstract forms. I love this kind of art, that finds potential in the everyday. It's a lovely conversation across time.