Barber Pole c. 1939

Vera Van Voris's ‘Barber Pole’ is a small but mighty painting, rendered in watercolor and graphite. The artist takes on the form of the barber’s pole, and I can imagine her making the image, looking intently at the object, trying to understand how it has been constructed through its multiple layers of paint and peeling surfaces. The form is familiar, but the surface is endlessly interesting, she is showing us the layers. She's not interested in the pristine. It reminds me a little of Giorgio Morandi, who also dedicated himself to painting humble, everyday objects. There is a conversation happening here, across time, across images, across artists. Vera is in dialogue with all the other artists who have ever been inspired to make paintings from real things. What I love about painting is this sense of possibility - the ways it invites us to interpret, reinvent, and reimagine.