Painted Wooden Chest c. 1939

Daniel Fletcher made this painted wooden chest, and it's just brimming with folk charm! The whole thing's slathered in this muted green, like an old kitchen cupboard, and then these dark, swooping lines get painted on top. It's kind of raw and intuitive. I'm really drawn to how the paint job isn't fussy or precious. It's clearly about the joy of making, letting the hand do its thing. Look how the black lines vary in thickness, like the artist was really feeling the curves and rhythms. There's this one little spiral on the side that gets me, it feels like a burst of pure energy, like a tiny galaxy spinning into existence. This chest reminds me a bit of Forrest Bess, actually. He had this similarly unstudied, almost automatic way of working. It's a good reminder that art isn't always about perfection. Sometimes, it's about embracing the weird, the raw, and the wonderfully imperfect.