Spoon 1935 - 1942

Editor: So, here we have "Spoon," a watercolour and drawing made sometime between 1935 and 1942 by Holger Hansen. It’s surprisingly…affecting, you know? The spoon feels monumental. I didn’t expect to feel something looking at a spoon! What jumps out at you? Curator: Monumental is the perfect word! It's funny, isn't it? How something so utterly mundane can become imbued with such presence when isolated, studied, rendered with care. It makes me think about the poetry of the everyday, how beauty and significance hide in the simplest of things, just waiting for us to pay attention. Notice how the artist renders this particular object, he also includes a design schematic. Perhaps Holger worked in some kind of factory designing silverware. But who cares when its transformed so elegantly? Editor: That little diagram *is* interesting! Like a blueprint almost. I guess it goes to the idea of elevation; we are literally scaling up a common piece. And I hadn’t even noticed the signature. The drawing gives real character to the utilitarian object. Do you feel like there is any social commentary being made, since the war had begun during this artwork's production? Curator: A spoon. An utterly unremarkable tool made remarkable with dedicated artistry, while bombs burst elsewhere. I see the artist elevating the overlooked, insisting on beauty amid ugliness, finding worth in what others discard, just to prove he can. So inspiring when you consider his own lived experiences! What does all of this mean to you now, looking back at "Spoon"? Editor: I definitely see more of the depth within something simple, so elegantly crafted as "Spoon." A spoon, the vessel for so much of daily life, rendered with delicate shades. Thank you!