-Hansel and Gretel- still bank c. 1930

This Hansel and Gretel still bank was made out of metal by an anonymous artist. I can just imagine the patient metalwork that went into this little house – the tiny, repetitive impressions used to make the roof tiles, like obsessive brushstrokes. I sympathize with this anonymous artist, wondering what they might have been thinking when they made it. This is folk art at its best. I like the little window and its multiplication of tiny squares, reflecting the light and creating a moiré effect. This reminds me of Agnes Martin's grids. The figure of Gretel outside the door offers the promise of safe-keeping, and suggests wealth and abundance. But is this bank really a trap? I guess folk art is like that, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty. It’s not fixed or definitive. The mind is always roaming and making connections.