Furnace Operator 1920 - 1940

Curator: Here we have "Furnace Operator," a drawing made with ink and watercolors sometime between 1920 and 1940 by Arnold Peter Weisz-Kubínčan. What springs to mind for you when you see this work? Editor: The lack of adornment is striking. It’s like looking at a blueprint for a human, all rough outlines and subdued colour. There's something intensely honest and even vulnerable about it. Curator: Absolutely. Weisz-Kubínčan zeroes in on the subject's essence. It's figuration with a commitment to showing manual labour. Editor: It makes you think about the labour itself, doesn't it? The repetitive, demanding actions involved. The artist is acknowledging all of the elements that come into play when material transformations are being enacted in the furnace. You can feel the social realism. Curator: Very much so, I feel. The soft watercolours, almost like sweat glistening, humanise the figure so differently to sharp realist sketches of the time. But what exactly do we see him operating? A literal furnace, maybe, or something more figurative, like society itself, constantly burning through its resources. Editor: Perhaps it's about showing how material production always relies on actual humans. The furnace can be a very isolating site; there's a tension between the necessity of industry and the human toll that it takes. The artist prompts consideration of our relationship with production. Curator: True. And the choice of materials reinforces that reading: Ink, a fluid and direct medium for immediate capture, mixed with watercolours, suggesting that everything is fluctuating and in constant process. Editor: Seeing this artwork really reminds me of all the ways in which our reality is materially constructed, often out of sight and far from our hands. The artist made me think about labour beyond the traditional notion of "work". Curator: It brings into perspective the sheer artistry inherent in everyday professions; to appreciate our world one must admire the individuals that keep it functional and alight.