Flatiron Stand c. 1940

Rose Campbell-Gerke made this drawing of a Flatiron Stand at an unknown date with an unknown medium. The drawing appears to be a straightforward rendering of an iron stand, but look closer and you begin to notice how the texture has been lovingly and meticulously described, with tiny strokes building up the form and giving it weight. A dark umber colour palette describes the object, but small details of line and tone suggest a quality beyond the functional. Note the way the light catches the top of the object, and the way the pattern is highlighted by the shadows around it. A tension emerges between the desire to capture what is seen, and the impulse to create a pleasing image. Agnes Martin springs to mind, she also wrestled with the same issues of representation and the beauty of simple objects in her paintings. Art is an ongoing exchange, after all, with no fixed meanings.