Table 1935 - 1942

Frank Wenger created this drawing of a table, on paper, at an unspecified date. Can you imagine Wenger making this? The colour is consistent, a warm brown that oozes familiarity. It speaks to the everyday, to home life. You can see the care he took to render the wood grain on the tabletop. He must have sat with it for a while, turning it over in his mind. Was he planning to make one? Did he want to remember its form? It reminds me of when I’m planning a painting. You turn things over in your mind, let them sit. It’s like a recipe, you know? The slight colour variations, and the shadows he depicts, give it an almost photographic quality. You can almost feel the smooth surface. Wenger is in conversation with all the painters who ever made an image of something. Each one speaks to each other across time. They are all in it together, in their different ways, just trying to make sense of things.