Stump Speaker Bank c. 1938

This is Florian Rokita's drawing of a "Stump Speaker Bank," made with graphite and watercolor. The drawing is a way of understanding a process, a form of documentation. Look at how Rokita layers the graphite to create a metallic sheen on the figure's top hat. There's a real material curiosity here, a desire to understand how things are made, maybe even how they work. I think of the rough texture of the purse contrasting with the smooth, almost rubbery quality of the figure. It's like Rokita is feeling out the different textures, trying to capture how light plays across each surface. Take a look at the way the green of the suit is applied so thinly that the lines of the graphite pencil show through. Rokita isn't trying to hide the process of making the work, it's all on show. This embrace of process is a reminder that art is a conversation, an ongoing exchange. I am reminded of Joseph Cornell's shadow boxes in the use of found objects and ephemera, elevating the everyday to the realm of art. Like Cornell, Rokita finds beauty in the commonplace.