Box 1935 - 1942

Edna Rex made this intriguing watercolor on paper, showing a box, maybe when she was thinking about the very idea of containing things. I think the way Rex has handled the watercolor washes is interesting. See how the brown paint pools and streaks, giving the wood grain a sense of depth and age. The way she has left the lid ajar suggests it has been opened for us, offering its secrets. The little pencil sketches in the background remind me that the way paintings are constructed as images, like memory, is also constructed. I wonder about the emotional life of this painting— what did it mean to Edna Rex? As artists, we're all magpies, picking up shiny bits and bobs from the world around us and from the art that came before. What do you think was in Edna's box? Artists are in an ongoing conversation, borrowing, stealing, and transforming ideas across time. Painting is all about embracing ambiguity, isn’t it? Leaving space for multiple readings, for the unexpected to emerge, for new meanings to be made.