Waistcoat c. 1937

This "Waistcoat" was created by Jean Peszel, sometime between 1855 and 1995. The vertical lines and the way they describe form makes me think about what it means to ‘dress’ an image in vertical lines. The marks are fairly controlled, but not without a kind of handmade touch. The lines wiggle, especially if you look closely at the way the collar stands up. The color is very understated, but really makes me think about that tension between something that is trying to look formal or ‘correct’ but has this undeniable hand in it. Even the way it is presented with that subtle shadow of a human form behind it. I think about Agnes Martin, and I think about the way so many artists work with systems, only to break them. What is order? What is disorder? This piece leaves plenty of room for interpretation and personal projection.