Cake Mold c. 1938

Richard Barnett made this cake mold drawing out of watercolor; the date is unknown, but Barnett lived a long life, so this could have been made at any point. Barnett coaxes a surprising amount of detail out of a mundane object using fluid watercolor. I love how he’s captured the mold’s ridged interior and cylindrical center – it's almost architectural. The mottled surface, achieved through layered washes of brown and ochre, gives the mold a sense of age and use. Up close, you can see how the paint pools in certain areas, creating a subtle texture that enlivens the surface. The shadows cast by the mold against the paper are delicate, grounding the object. Barnett’s humble subject matter reminds me of Giorgio Morandi, who similarly found endless inspiration in the simple forms of bottles and jars. Like Morandi, Barnett elevates the everyday to something worthy of contemplation. Art, after all, is about seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary.