Lamp c. 1936

This drawing of a lamp was made by Arsen Maralian, though we don't know exactly when. It seems like he's showing us how light becomes form. Look at the meticulous shading and detail – it's almost photographic but softened with a handmade touch. The color is muted, almost monochromatic, which gives it a timeless feel, like an echo from the past. My eye is drawn to the intricate design etched around the body of the lamp, it's like a secret code hinting at the stories this object could tell. It reminds me of the work of Giorgio Morandi, who spent his whole life painting the same bottles over and over, each time discovering something new. Like Morandi, Maralian finds the extraordinary in the ordinary, the beauty in the everyday object. And, you know, that's what art is all about, isn't it? Not just showing us what things look like, but how we see them, and what they mean to us.