Barracks 1935 - 1944

Editor: So here we have "Barracks" by Arnold Peter Weisz-Kubínčan, created sometime between 1935 and 1944, a drawing made with colored pencil. It feels unsettling somehow, a kind of everyday dread perhaps. What stands out to you? Curator: For me, the impact resides in the artist's choice of materials. Coloured pencil, often relegated to the realm of childhood craft, here becomes a medium for depicting the cold, institutional architecture of a barracks. The pastel tones are deceptive; they soften the harsh reality of the subject, creating a chilling juxtaposition. Editor: That’s interesting! The choice of pastel colors normalizes something that really wasn't. So, are you saying the inherent properties of colored pencils - their association with the domestic and leisurely - serve to highlight the bleakness of the scene? Curator: Precisely. Weisz-Kubínčan is challenging traditional notions of high art by utilizing a humble medium to represent a place of forced labor and potentially, immense suffering. The very act of choosing these materials is a commentary on the disjunction between appearance and reality. What labor went into this depiction using only colored pencil? Editor: I see. It makes you consider the artist's hand, and time, involved in rendering this scene. I’m struck by the implications of using art supplies considered almost childlike. How does this potentially soften the blow of something so real? Curator: Yes, and we must consider the paper, the fixative... Everything contributes to the meaning, questioning the accepted hierarchies of value within the art world. Did the relative inexpensiveness and commonality of colored pencil potentially enable its use in concealing difficult truths during a tumultuous historical period? Editor: Definitely makes you rethink assumptions. I really learned a lot considering materials, the making process and how it interacts with the subject itself! Curator: And by extension, how the artist's choices can amplify a work’s meaning and social context!