Men's Bedroom Slippers 1935 - 1942

These ‘Men’s Bedroom Slippers’ were painted by Paul Poffinbarger, who lived a long life, passing away in 1995. What were these slippers to him? Were they his own? How long had they been around? What sort of person would wear these? Are they neatly placed or unceremoniously dropped? I love the strange intimacy of the subject. The watercolor seems thin, precise and deliberate. Each stroke seems to describe the woven texture of the slipper's surface. The light and dark blue interior. The worn and aged leather sole. There’s something incredibly tender about the slippers, like a memory patiently preserved with fine strokes of red and teal. It reminds me of Fairfield Porter, or even Morandi, how they both found endless variation in humble domestic settings. Each artist is having a conversation with one another, as well as us viewers, to share an embodied experience that embraces ambiguity and personal reflection.