Man's Stick Pin c. 1938

Kalamian Walton made 'Man's Stick Pin' as a study for a piece of jewellery. The artist’s application of watercolour here feels precise, considered. There's a clarity to the colours, a lightness, which gives the objects a sense of depth. You can almost feel the cool metal of the pin. I’m drawn to the mark making here, and the way the artist has captured light. It is not about exactitude or representation, more about capturing the feeling of light on the object. See how the glints are captured as flecks of white on the surface, these are the painterly details that bring the piece to life. This resonates with the work of someone like Agnes Martin, both artists share a desire to distil their observations to an essential element, to catch and fix a moment in time. Both artists have embraced an approach which values the process of making and the possibilities of seeing.