Pa. German Deep Dish 1938

Eugene Shellady made this Pennsylvania German Deep Dish, we don't know exactly when, but probably sometime in the 20th century. The color palette here is really earthy, browns and creams, with the scene painted right onto the surface of the dish. I love how the paint is applied so directly, it’s almost childlike in its simplicity. The house is rendered with flat planes of color, and the figures are just these little dabs of paint that somehow still convey movement and life. Look at the rim of the dish, with its playful, looping pattern – it reminds me of doodles in a notebook, a kind of stream-of-consciousness mark-making. This kind of work feels related to artists like Forrest Bess or even Alfred Wallis, other self-taught artists who created their own worlds through paint. What does it all mean? I have no idea, and I'm not sure it even matters. It’s more about the feeling, the raw, unbridled energy of the artist putting their world down on the surface.