17664 („Hier ist zu sehen ein Menschentier …“) 1932

John Elsas made this watercolour drawing called 17664, or "Here is a human animal boasting with acquaintances here", sometime around 1932. I love the immediacy of it. There's a freedom in the way he's put down these loose, fluid marks – like the process is more important than getting the image "right". Looking closely, you can see the paper peeking through the thin washes of colour. The pink outline around the grey figure is so energetic, not carefully placed at all. It's like he's letting us see the armature, the skeleton of the painting. I'm drawn to the gold shape to the right. It feels weighty, anchoring the more whimsical creature next to it. Maybe it’s like a thought-bubble of status or wealth? This reminds me a bit of some of Guston's later work – that same playful, almost cartoonish quality, but with a deeper, more ambiguous meaning lurking beneath the surface. Art is a conversation, right? Elsas is speaking in his own voice, but you can hear echoes of other artists, other ideas, across time.