Vase c. 1937

This is John Tarantino’s ‘Vase’, painted in watercolor with a restricted palette of mainly greens and greys, which gives the painting a very tonal quality. When I look at this, I imagine Tarantino with his paper on a table, intently capturing the vase's form, one careful brushstroke at a time. I picture him squinting, trying to distill the object into a series of tones and shapes. I like how he's used the translucence of the medium to express the light, almost luminous quality of the vase, making the surface seem to glow. It’s really simple, the painting itself, and in that way it reminds me of the work of Giorgio Morandi. But where Morandi felt almost melancholic in his muted colours and tones, I feel there is light in this vase, a freshness that lifts the image and invites me into the artist’s vision. This piece seems like a quiet conversation between artists, across time, each one finding their unique way to see and represent the world.