Pocket c. 1936

Rosalia Lane made this drawing of a pocket, the date is unknown, but most likely on paper. The colors are muted, delicate; it feels like a whisper of an idea, a ghost of a memory. I love how the artist allows the underdrawing to show through, revealing the process of its making. The texture is smooth, the colors are semi-transparent and layered and the touch is light, which gives it a fragile, ethereal quality. There’s a second, smaller pocket floating to the right, a shadow self, perhaps? Notice the way the tassels hang, like tear drops or the stamens of a flower. Thinking about other works that use similar light touch, I am reminded of Agnes Martin, or maybe even Cy Twombly, artists who understand the power of suggestion. It’s this ambiguity, this space for interpretation, that makes art so endlessly fascinating. Lane invites us into a world where the boundaries between reality and imagination blur, where the ordinary becomes extraordinary.