Flat Iron Holder c. 1939

Irene Lawson made this drawing of a flat iron holder using tiny little dots. Can you imagine her, almost a hundred years old, focusing her attention, and making a drawing of this mundane object? The evenness of the dots reminds me of pointillism, but it’s much more personal and strange here. I love the way the drawing flattens the object, yet still describes its three-dimensionality. It has this weird combination of being accurate and dreamy at the same time. The flat iron holder becomes an object worthy of contemplation, and in the act of drawing, Lawson celebrates her history, perhaps, or finds beauty in something others would disregard. And that, my friends, is what art can be all about.