Crock 1939

Nicholas Amantea made this simple yet intriguing painting of a crock in the early to mid-twentieth century, we don't know exactly when. The brown and blue hues are earthy and muted, kind of modest. It makes me wonder what it was like for Amantea to stand before this ordinary object, finding something worthy of capturing. He’s playing with the light here, giving the painting a slightly surreal air. I like how the image is composed; it's cropped in a way that makes it look monumental, even though it's just a small container. It makes me think about how we decide what’s important, what we choose to focus on. Artists like Amantea teach us to look at the world in a different way. He reminds me of Giorgio Morandi, who spent his life painting bottles and jars. These guys were in an ongoing conversation, across time, inspiring each other’s creativity.