17579 (_In the art of painting …_) 1932

John Elsas made this drawing, 17579 (_In the art of painting …_), probably with ink and watercolor on paper. He’s gone for a restricted palette: lilacs, purples, grey-white, yellow. Looking at the texture, you can imagine the artist layering the washes, letting them bleed, and intermingle like one of Philip Guston's strange cartoon figures or maybe even a Louise Bourgeois drawing. The figure's got this quizzical, gentle expression, like he’s just stepped out of a dream, ready for anything. There is a lightness to it, even if it is also a bit unsettling. The little collar, and that hat...It feels very considered but in a quirky, off-beat way. Artists are always in conversation, aren't they? Elsas’s sharing something here, a snippet of his world view, inviting us to think about our own. There's no right or wrong way to see it, just an open invitation to engage.