Pterocera rugosa Possibly 1962

Charles Arthur Wells Jr.'s Pterocera rugosa features a detailed shell rendered in ink or graphite against a deep red ground. Imagine Wells hunched over his drawing, carefully observing and translating the shell’s intricate textures onto the page. The marks are so delicate, like whispers of shadow and light. I wonder what he was thinking about as he drew each line? Was he thinking about the shell’s journey through the ocean? Was he concerned with its form? Was he thinking about other artists who drew shells before him? I bet Wells admired artists like Albrecht Dürer, known for his exquisite engravings of natural forms, or maybe even some scientific illustrators. Artists are always talking to each other through time, sharing a language of marks and forms. In this artwork there is a conversation happening between nature, art, science, and observation. It’s a reminder that painting is a form of embodied expression. We can look and look and keep finding something new.