Silver Salver c. 1939

Vincent Carano made this Silver Salver drawing with graphite on paper. Looking at this, I immediately think of it as an artifact of design. There's a real dedication to process here. It's not just about the object, it's about the act of observing, translating, and rendering. Notice how Carano uses the graphite to build up tone, creating a subtle sheen that suggests the reflectivity of silver. It’s not quite photorealism, it's something else. The surface is smooth, almost velvety, achieved through careful blending. But then you see these crisp, precise lines defining the ornate edges. That contrast tells you something about Carano's approach. It's a balancing act between precision and intuition, control and letting the material breathe. It reminds me a little of what Josef Albers was doing with colour theory, meticulously charting out visual relationships. Though this is grayscale, it holds that same level of investigation and exploration. Ultimately, it asks us to slow down and really see.