Vignet 1878 - 1940

Elias Voet Jr.'s "Vignet" comes to us as a small, precise dance of ink on paper. It makes me wonder what Voet Jr. was thinking. Was it a slow and deliberate burn, or did it flow out of him in a fit of inspiration? I imagine him hunched over his desk, maybe with a magnifying glass, each line a testament to his patience and skill. I love the way this object is floating in the middle of the paper. It feels weightless, dreamlike. You can almost hear him scratching away at the page. It’s all about the hand, right? That’s what painting is, too: the hand, the eye, the heart, all working together to make something that didn’t exist before. He’s in conversation with all the other artists who ever picked up a pen or brush. It’s like a big, messy, beautiful conversation that never ends.