Crock c. 1938

John Tarantino created this artwork of a Crock, rendering in blue the ornate floral decoration that wraps around the rotund body of the vessel. The heart of the design is a stylized flower. The flower is one of humanity’s oldest motifs, symbolizing not just beauty but also cyclical renewal, hope, and the ephemeral nature of life itself. Echoes of the flower resonate through ancient Egyptian art, where the lotus represented rebirth, to the Gothic cathedrals of Europe, where the rose window symbolized divine love. Here, the flower is made of circular shapes and spirals, reflecting the organic forms found in nature while hinting at the continuous cycles of growth and decay. It is a dance between order and chaos, a visual echo of the world’s ceaseless transformation. The persistence of the floral motif throughout time is no accident. It resonates with our deepest hopes, fears, and collective memories of a world in constant flux.