Desk c. 1936

Fred Weiss made this drawing of a desk at an unknown date with watercolor and graphite on paper. The brown color has been applied in many layers, thin washes mostly, so the light bounces around a bit and creates depth in an otherwise flat field. It makes me think about building up my own paintings in layers, each one influencing the next, until the image takes shape. Look at the bottom, where the decorative carved elements rest on the floor, and how the shadows around them make them almost appear to lift off the ground. A keen observation about the way light works. Weiss really makes the piece feel solid. It makes me think a little of Thomas Demand, another artist interested in documentation, and in blurring the lines between the real and the represented. Art is really all about seeing, about looking closely.