Jug c. 1937

Charles Caseau made this jug with what looks like graphite and blue watercolor. The blue almost looks like an afterthought, doesn’t it? Like maybe he was just testing out the blue on the jug because the ground is plain. I imagine Caseau making this; he’s drawing an everyday object and then he adds just a few marks in blue; three quick strokes. Maybe it's supposed to be a decoration or a shadow, or maybe he’s just adding something to make it less ordinary. It’s really not that different from how I approach painting – there's some underlying structure and then you add a few gestures on top, almost like a thought. It reminds me of some of the drawings of Guston, or maybe even a Cy Twombly doodle. Artists are always riffing off of each other, passing ideas back and forth. Painting becomes this embodied expression of ideas and feelings, without needing to be too specific. It just is.