Bellows 1935 - 1942

This drawing of a bellows was made by Benjamin Resnick, though we're not quite sure when. Look closely, and you can see the way the colours have been built up in layers, like watercolour washes. It's a patient, deliberate approach to mark-making. I'm interested in how Resnick coaxes detail from such humble materials. The surface of the paper is left bare, almost like a sigh. It's there, it's not there! Notice how the reds of the flowers on the bellows pop against the surrounding pale greens and yellows, giving the whole image a strange, muted vitality. There’s a tension between the crisp outline of the bellows and the softness of the washes, as if the object is both present and receding into the background. You know, the American painter Charles Burchfield, who saw the world as if through heat shimmers, comes to mind here. Both artists remind us that the ordinary can be made extraordinary through the simple act of looking.