Bishop Hill Square Desk 1939

This Bishop Hill Square Desk by Archie Thompson is rendered with what looks like graphite or maybe colored pencil on paper. It's like he’s feeling out the object, the way the grain pulls your eye, and all the planes are softly lit. You can almost smell the wood, can’t you? The way it’s depicted, the surface seems smooth but not glossy, almost like it's drinking in the light. Look how the colors shift across the drawers, from a brighter, almost cherry-like hue at the top to deeper, richer browns towards the base. It gives the piece a sense of weight, of being grounded. And there's something so satisfying about the repetition of those drawer pulls, evenly spaced, each a tiny, perfect circle. It reminds me a little of Agnes Martin’s drawings, the way she built up a whole world from simple lines and subtle variations. It makes you see something you thought you knew in a totally new way. It's like seeing a really great cover version of your favorite song.