Clock Jack c. 1941

Joseph Cannella made this painting of utilitarian metal objects, possibly with watercolor, but it’s hard to tell. I imagine Joseph, sitting in front of these rusty, heavy, things trying to see them properly. I’ve done that a million times! He’s looking really hard, squinting, moving his head back and forth, probably mumbling to himself, ‘how does this damn thing WORK?’ I think he painted this with a dry brush. There is something about the granular texture of the objects that speaks to me. Cannella is not trying to trick us into thinking these are real objects. It’s a painting of metal stuff, with a little bit of green. I think he was thinking about what makes metal feel like metal. How does he paint the feel of it? It’s not photorealism, but something more like 'metal-ness'. There is an ongoing conversation between artists of all kinds. We’re all asking each other—across time—what it means to feel like a human, and how to show that in colors and shapes. It's not about perfect renderings but about capturing the essence, the soul of what we see.