Crimping Wheel c. 1939

Here, John Wilkes depicts six crimping wheels with paint and what looks like watercolor, sometime between 1600 and 1700. You know, the way he focuses on the details, on the edges, the shapes, it feels like he’s really looking, or maybe remembering. There’s something quiet and meditative about the way he renders the crimping wheels. The texture of the metal, the grain of the wood. It’s not about perfection, it’s about process, about trying to capture the essence of these tools, their weight, their function, their history. Take the bottom right crimping wheel. The handle is dark and polished, but the wheel itself is rendered with this hazy blue, almost like a dream. It makes me think of other artists preoccupied with objects and memory, like Giorgio Morandi, or maybe even Agnes Martin. It's not just about what you see, but how you see it.