Side Chair 1937

This drawing of a side chair was made by Louis Annino, we don’t know when, using watercolor and graphite on paper. The brown hues and tan backdrop create a sense of something traditional and time worn. The chair is static, solid, the lines firm and measured. It's a world away from the kind of loosey-goosey process-driven art I like to make. What I notice about the drawing is how deliberate each mark must have been. Annino has picked out all the details in the carved wood, down to the grain. In contrast to the overall formality of the piece, the seat cushion is a playful injection of color, the only area where he allows himself some looseness. I’m thinking of the precision of someone like Agnes Martin, who similarly explored repetition, and the relationship between mark making and something like meditation. Even the most seemingly simple art contains multitudes.