Purse c. 1936

Cornelius Christoffels’s ‘Purse’ is, well, an image of a purse, made with something as simple as colored pencil on paper. What I love about this drawing is how Christoffels has created a sort of portal into another world. The world of a hand-made object, lovingly rendered, even though the drawing is pretty basic. I mean, look at how the colours are laid down, kind of tentative and the lines are so consistent. I can imagine him sitting there, totally focused, maybe a bit unsure, but committed to capturing the essence of this purse. It reminds me that art isn't always about being flashy or complicated. It's about making the familiar look weird, look magical even, and then letting us look too. In this way, we're always having a conversation with the past and future. It all feels pretty circular, which is the point, right?