Spark Lamp c. 1936

John Tarantino’s "Spark Lamp" is an early American artifact rendered in graphite and watercolor, maybe as a reference for craftspeople. Look at how the lamp floats on the page. You can sense Tarantino’s curiosity, figuring out how to construct a sense of form with subtle tonal variations. He isn't just copying; he is understanding. The base, built from a repeating pattern, seems to ripple, but the delicate rendering of the glass has a smooth, reflective quality. The choice to present the lamp in shades of blue gives it an ethereal quality, like something glimpsed in a dream. It's funny, how an image of a functional object from everyday life can become something uncanny and almost otherworldly. I am reminded of other artists who find the extraordinary in the mundane – think of Giorgio Morandi’s still life paintings of bottles and jars, where through repetition and subtle variation, these ordinary objects become vehicles for exploring color, form, and perception.