Weather Vane c. 1937

Walter Hochstrasser created this weather vane with paint on paper. It is giving me folk art vibes! The rooster feels very solid; the dark shades of gray and black add to the weightiness of it. I get the sense that it is crafted to last a long time against the wind and the weather, like one of those tough roosters you see on farms. I can imagine Hochstrasser making his mark, stroke after stroke, trying to nail the right shape. I am thinking about how an artist sees something in the world and then re-creates it with their own sensibility. Maybe he had this old weather vane in mind that he’d seen somewhere and wanted to capture the essence of it. Artists have always borrowed and responded to one another's work. It’s a dance across time and space. In the end, though, the best paintings aren't just copies; they're transformations, imbued with the artist’s own spirit.