Trivet 1935 - 1942

This drawing of a trivet was made by Filippo Porreca, who was born in 1855. It’s a meticulous rendering in graphite or ink, precise and even, like an engineer’s diagram. You can see how the artist has taken care to describe the object from several angles. The trivet itself is presented in full. Above this, two further drawings are presented, a kind of schematic plan that details further aspects of the object’s design. Look closely, and you can see the artist has even included a scale in the bottom right of the image. I’m intrigued by how the nature of the mark-making – so careful and controlled – shapes our response to this everyday object. You know, it puts me in mind of the work of Albrecht Durer. Like Durer, Porreca shows us that a drawing can reveal the extraordinary lurking within the ordinary.