Clock 1936

John Dieterich made this drawing of a clock some time in the 20th century, and it feels like a real labour of love. The way the wood grain has been described in a series of subtle, almost topographic lines. It's painstaking, it must have taken forever! The physicality of the medium, the way the pencil or pen has been used to build up the image layer by layer, really speaks to the actual, physical work of making things. Look at the border around the edge. Each one of those blue lozenges has been individually placed. I think of someone like Alfred Jenson looking at this kind of art, he found ways to systemize his palette and he made decisions about colour with an outsider's approach, like John Dieterich. Both of them are embracing ambiguity and the fact that there are multiple ways of interpreting what they are doing.