Public Utilities 1932

Joe Jones made this lithograph, Public Utilities, at some point in his career. It’s amazing how much information he conveys with just a pencil, or whatever he used to draw on that litho stone! There’s a real sense of place, but it’s also kind of dreamlike. The textures he creates, just with line, are really something. Look at the way he renders the bushes, with these quick, scratchy marks. Or the smooth, rounded forms of the fire hydrant. Each mark seems to capture the essence of the thing it’s describing. It’s like he’s not just drawing what he sees, but also what he knows about these objects. There’s a magic to the way Jones transforms the everyday into something a little surreal. It reminds me a little of Charles Burchfield, who also found the extraordinary in the ordinary. It makes you look at the world a little differently, like anything is possible.