Jug c. 1938

This is Aaron Fastovsky’s 'Jug', and I’m imagining him carefully layering thin washes of brown, one over the other, to give it such weight. It's not just brown, is it? There’s a bit of yellow ochre, and a sort of greenish tinge. It’s like he’s trying to find the jug in the painting, coaxing it out. I’m always curious about the moment when a painting starts to assert itself. Like, when the painting itself tells you what it needs. Maybe Aaron was struggling, then suddenly saw a way forward. Maybe he made a mistake and then discovered that the mistake was actually the key. Look at how the paint drips down the front - that's how the jug *is*! It must have been so satisfying to realize. It reminds me of other painters who use everyday objects - Giorgio Morandi, for example - and how, through repetition, you can find something monumental in the mundane. Artists, we're all just chatting to each other, across time. Isn’t it great?