Crock c. 1937

John Tarantino made this drawing of a crock sometime in the late twentieth century. He must have observed this object closely. I'm thinking of him sitting, studying it, then going back to his work. There's a kind of quiet attentiveness about it, a concentration on the subtle gradations of tone and texture that feels really intimate. The glaze on the ceramic looks thick, and the artist has captured the weight of this domestic vessel. I especially like the way Tarantino rendered the decoration of the bird. It's so bold and graphic, a splash of dark blue against the muted gray, and there is an inscription above it! Maybe Tarantino, through this act of close observation and rendering, was trying to understand what it was like to use this object, to hold it. The best art comes from people looking and responding to other people's art.