Silver Mug 1936

Charles Garjian's "Silver Mug" is a drawing, and when I look at it, I think about the quiet focus it must have taken to make. I can imagine Garjian, in 1907, carefully observing the way light hits the metal, how it curves around the handle, and how the subtle variations in tone suggest depth and volume. He is noticing everything! It's kind of like a dance between the eye, the hand, and the object itself. A translation into tone. And what was Garjian thinking about as he drew? Was he contemplating the mug’s use, its history, or the person who might have owned it? I wonder, too, if he was influenced by the academic drawing styles of his time, or was he just making up his own rules as he went along? You know, artists are always riffing off of each other, across decades. It's a big, ongoing conversation and this drawing is a testament to the power of looking closely and finding beauty in the everyday.