Tilt Table c. 1937

Ferdinand Cartier made this drawing, Tilt Table, and I like to think of him mapping a world, maybe a world in his mind. It’s a smallish drawing, made of what looks like watercolor or gouache. The whole thing is about color, specifically a deep red – a color that pulls you in. It’s a circle, a tabletop, with these radiating patterns, like veins or maybe some kind of weird, abstract plant. Up close, the marks feel both intentional and a little haphazard. The texture has a subtle, almost velvety quality, but you can see the individual strokes, the way the pigment sits on the paper. There's something almost obsessive about the way the drawing seems to pulse out from the center. It kind of reminds me of Hilma af Klint’s work, that idea of exploring the unseen through pattern and color. It's a reminder that art can be about the act of seeing and feeling, more than the thing being depicted.