Armoire c. 1939

This drawing of an armoire was made by Sarkis Erganian, using what looks like colored pencil on paper. I find myself drawn to the texture here, it's not about hiding the medium, but about celebrating it. You can really see the individual strokes of the pencil, building up the wood grain, almost like a topographical map of the cabinet’s surface. It makes me think about the act of looking, and drawing, as a kind of slow, deliberate process, almost meditative. Take a look at the way the light catches the edges of the doors, how Erganian uses subtle shifts in tone to create a sense of depth and volume. The warmth of the wood is just gorgeous. It’s so quiet, this piece, but there’s a real intensity in the observation, it reminds me of the paintings of Giorgio Morandi, simple objects rendered with so much care. Like Morandi, Erganian reminds us that even the most mundane things can be beautiful, if we really take the time to look.