Crock c. 1953

This is John Tarantino’s drawing of a Crock, made with what looks like watercolour or gouache, maybe even coloured pencil, on paper. You can tell that artmaking is a process by the different lines and marks that build up the form. The colors are muted, mostly browns and blues, giving it this old-timey feel. There's something really beautiful about the texture, how it feels both smooth and a bit rough, like the clay it's depicting. Look at the figure, the way the blue almost bleeds into the beige of the crock, like a memory. This drawing reminds me a bit of some of the folk art I've seen. Like those artists, Tarantino has a unique way of seeing and showing us the world. It’s less about perfect representation and more about capturing the essence of the thing. It’s about ambiguity, allowing the viewer to bring their own experiences and interpretations to the artwork.