Decanter 1936

This is John Dana’s Decanter, made with watercolor on paper. It’s about seeing, and about how seeing is never neutral. Dana has used this really beautiful golden, olive-y tone throughout the piece, and what strikes me is the obsessive mark-making, the thin lines that wrap around the vessel. There's this wonderful tension between the precision of the geometric patterns, and the slightly wobbly nature of the lines. It's like Dana is trying to capture the perfect form of this bottle, but also letting his hand lead the way. The surface of the bottle is built up through layers of color, creating a sense of depth and volume. It feels like he’s trying to create the effect of light hitting a real, three-dimensional object. You could relate it to Morandi, who used simple still life arrangements to explore the possibilities of color and form. And like Morandi, Dana reminds us that art is an ongoing conversation, a way of seeing and thinking that evolves over time.