Saw c. 1940

Charles Charon made this drawing of a saw with watercolor, likely sometime in the mid-twentieth century. It is like Charon is thinking through the saw, understanding it by making the drawing, you know? The color is light, and the form almost floats. It is so delicate and subtle in tone. There's a warmth in the rendering of the wooden handle. I can imagine him thinking, "How can I show this thing, not just as an object, but almost as an idea?" The saw, its form, how it works. Look at how the teeth are represented; they are almost like a kind of writing, a notation. It has a kinship to folk art or the work of someone like Bill Traylor—a kind of directness and honesty. Artists are always talking to each other, across time, you know? We borrow, steal, and learn. I wonder who Charon was looking at, what he was thinking about. We can only guess.