Crock c. 1940

John Tarantino made this drawing of a crock, we don't know exactly when, but probably with watercolor or gouache on paper. Look at how those blue-grey marks form a face! It reminds me that artmaking is a process of discovery. He probably wasn't sure exactly how it would look when he started out. The beige paper with horizontal lines really makes you feel the surface. The paint looks pretty thin and watery. Notice the way the lines defining the nose extend from the number ‘3’ at the top, and how the artist suggests features of the face, like the eyes and mouth, with just a few simple strokes. It's amazing how much expression he gets with so little. It reminds me a little bit of some drawings by Guston, where he also uses simple, almost cartoonish forms to convey complex emotions. Ultimately, it's more like a feeling than a fixed idea – something that invites us to see the world in a new way.