Seascape with Boat 

Editor: This is "Seascape with Boat," a pencil drawing by John Marin. It looks like an abstract representation of a boat at sea. All the lines and shapes – what do you make of them? Curator: For me, this drawing brings up questions about artistic labor and the devaluation of process. Here we have something that would often be considered a sketch, a preliminary working-out of ideas, elevated to the level of a finished work. What labor went into the "final" product versus this more immediate, process-oriented creation? Editor: So, you’re focusing on the art making itself. How the drawing came into being. I guess I’m thinking about where it fits as a picture of something? Curator: But that "something" is also important. Marin is showing us not just a boat, but perhaps the act of seeing a boat – or, more accurately, the labor involved in constructing our understanding of "boat." Editor: So, like the artistic labor of representation, the labor of looking and interpreting too? Curator: Exactly. And what about the materials themselves? Pencil on paper. Cheap, readily available. Does that accessibility impact its value? Would we view this differently if it were oil on canvas? Does that material quality reinforce its status as 'sketch' and therefore, secondary to another, more refined, labor? Editor: I guess it would be easy to overlook, because it seems unfinished. But now that you mention it, those simple materials highlight the direct connection between the artist's hand and the image. Curator: Yes. The seemingly disposable nature of the materials forces us to confront the conscious decision to display a preliminary study. What does it mean to exhibit the steps, rather than just the outcome, of the work involved? Editor: Thinking about it that way really shifts the focus from the finished product to the actual process of art making, which is usually hidden from view. Curator: Right, and understanding *that* process— the artist’s *labor* — gives the image a whole new meaning.