Glass Bowl 1935 - 1942

Florian Rokita made this simple blue glass bowl using what looks like watercolor, or maybe gouache. It's a bit like looking at a blueprint: economical, humble, and transparent. The surface is plain, a flat matte that belies the physical object it depicts, which would surely be reflective and smooth. It's a funny contrast and makes me think of Morandi, or maybe Agnes Martin, who have each explored the quiet beauty of simple forms. There's a kind of stubbornness in this simplicity, a focus on the essential nature of the object. Look at the the dark blue of the base, which becomes almost black in places. There's a real tension here, a play between the darkness and the light, the solid and the void. For me, it’s in that tension where the work really comes alive. There’s something both familiar and strange about it, a kind of quiet mystery.