Silver Gnome 1940

Vajda Lajos’s "Silver Gnome" is made with what looks like ink and paint. I love the scumbled ground of silvers and grays, almost like the stuff of clouds, the support peeking through, and how this is contrasted with the marks making up the gnome. A tightly clustered mass of browns and tans, built up of many tiny marks that remind me of hair, it has so much concentrated energy. The gnome is a strange but lovable character. The pale blue triangle sitting above the hands is a very nice touch, it’s like a portal to a different kind of space, maybe the space of the imagination, and it’s echoed by the two almond-shaped eyes looking out at us. The surface is ambiguous, full of these kinds of plays between foreground and background, flatness and depth. It makes me think of Paul Klee’s childlike figures and playful approach to abstraction. It’s a nice reminder that art can be both serious and totally weird.