Door Stop c. 1940

Curator: What strikes me immediately is the stillness, the immobility of it all. It feels like a commentary on domesticity and labor, a critique perhaps? Editor: I agree; it certainly emanates a stillness. The drawing is a piece titled "Door Stop" by Nicholas Amantea, created around 1940. Amantea rendered it meticulously in pencil on paper. Curator: I see it as the symbol of subjugation; imagine a turtle rendered immobile for domestic convenience! It brings forth issues surrounding the roles of the domestic and natural sphere. It’s an object turned symbol. What I'm trying to express is the way power can function in domestic spaces, turning what should be free into an object. Editor: Fascinating take. For me, though, the power lies in the casting, the very objecthood of it. You can almost feel the cool, heavy iron in your hand, a material shaped through intense industrial labor, now rendered faithfully on paper. It highlights the material reality of mass production, yet also elevating this quotidian form through artistic observation. Consider that its presence is the evidence of labor. Curator: And isn't that precisely the intersectional tension we must address? To commodify any labor that we use to build this society! As a result of capitalism’s reach, objects, living creatures, are transformed into commodities. Amantea seems to question how mundane objects in fact become extensions of exploitation within our homes. Editor: I see that, and agree to the extent of commodity use of the object, I suggest however a look into the way that industrial materials often hold a presence in their casting! Amantea seems invested in the visual impact that something utilitarian is so readily accessible for artistic representation. What stories are implied in this quiet presentation of material? Curator: Thinking more broadly about art as resistance or activism, in my eyes, Amantea compels viewers to rethink not just domestic functions but how history, oppression, and representation intersect in everyday objects. The weight of such burdens represented! Editor: Ultimately, Amantea’s patient work with graphite leaves an echo here that’s a trace of production, design, labor, and artistry; a small sculpture presented for reflection, one humble “Door Stop” rendered with the greatest care.