Candlestand c. 1936

Jack Staloff made this drawing of a candlestick sometime between 1855 and 1995. It's a pretty functional drawing, no big gestures, but the colors are great! Sort of bronzey golds and greys and blacks. I love how he’s broken the object into details, like an exploded diagram in an instruction manual. The candelabra seems to be floating, as if it were suspended in air. It’s so light and airy, there's no real depth to the piece. And that flatness, that almost awkward presentation, adds to the charm. Look at the the base of one of the components - the way the shadow is indicated. Its just a few quick hatching marks with a dark pencil, that imply form. The whole piece is like that, a kind of shorthand. Staloff's drawing has a playful, improvisational feel that makes me think of the way Picasso would dissect and reassemble an object from different angles. It reminds me that art is about process. It’s about trying to find form, through observation.