Wine Cask c. 1936

Yolande Delasser made this watercolor of a wine cask; we can see her intuitive process in her loose handling of the paint. I love the casualness of this artwork, like it's a snapshot of a moment. The rendering is both representational and abstract. Delasser captures the essence of the cask’s form and texture, yet the execution is delightfully simple and spontaneous. The dark blue fish, the bird, and the squiggles read as water are all drawn with a playful looseness and a child-like innocence that I find incredibly charming. It’s like looking at a drawing from art school, one where the artist is really just having fun and seeing what happens. It makes me think of outsider art, where the beauty lies in the unfiltered expression and a raw, unpretentious approach to making. Delasser reminds me of Bill Traylor; both share that kind of unfettered mark-making. Art is a conversation, and this piece whispers of folk traditions and the joy of seeing the world anew.