Vase c. 1940

Curator: John Tarantino's "Vase," created around 1940, renders its subject with delicate strokes of graphite, pencil, and watercolor on paper. What's your initial impression? Editor: Purple. It’s like a royal proclamation distilled into glass, a celebration of labor both artistic and industrial. I see the meticulous construction here and the implicit nod to all the hands that might have been involved in crafting an actual object. Curator: Absolutely. It makes me think of the artist carefully coaxing form out of essentially thin air, each layer building up this almost regal presence. The purple—so evocative, really—it makes me think about longing and memory... Doesn't it feel both familiar and impossibly distant? Editor: The evenness is remarkable, which makes me consider how this color was actually developed and whether the artist might have felt an urge to acquire some. Also, I can see where the lines denoting scale have been drawn; perhaps the image functions as technical documentation. Curator: It does have that feeling of being cataloged. It also seems to want to transcend mere utility. There's a fragility implied by the medium; such precision demands respect. Do you feel any sense of emotional attachment or distance here? Editor: The craft gives me a huge amount of appreciation. But, ultimately, it's that calculated remove in a study. Curator: Yes, that’s interesting because this tension somehow gives life to an ordinary object in an extraordinary way. By highlighting craft and color and light, maybe Tarantino seeks some enduring echo of human life through a functional, common object? Editor: Maybe. Ultimately, my understanding has gained greater perspective on the artist’s labor involved, turning observation into the subject of this interesting piece.