Seascape 1981

Editor: So, this is Elena Prentice's "Seascape," a watercolor piece. It's quite small, but the strokes of color are so evocative. What's striking is the raw simplicity of the materials. What can we read into Prentice's process here? Curator: It’s interesting to consider the materiality. Look at how the watercolor almost resists being contained, bleeding into the paper. It points to the artist's direct engagement with the medium and to the commodification of landscapes. How does this reflect the labor required to produce this image? Editor: I never thought about it that way; I was caught up in the aesthetic of it. Curator: Exactly! It challenges the romanticized view of nature, emphasizing the artist's labor and the very real resources used to create this vision. Editor: This has completely reshaped my understanding of it. Thanks! Curator: Likewise; I'll be looking at watercolors differently from now on.