Tag: KolNIdrei

Sketch of the Week: Flowers or Lil Arbus Boy? (October 11–13, 2024)

You get a two-fer this week:

A pair of pencil sketches on a single piece of paper. Top sketch is of some red daisies in a pot on a small table. In front of the flowers are two low, rectangular plastic baskets. The lower sketch is a skinny little by in a rigid, grotesque posture holding a toy grenade. It is clearly based on the Diane Arbus black-and-white photograph "Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C. 1962"

My son voted for the upper sketch, noting “holy heck I love the shadows on the flowers.” The model for this was a little table near the entrance of the Unitarian church where my congregation held Kol Nidrei service on Oct 11. I’m on our Safety Committee, and so had a shift watching the front door. Thankfully, it was an extremely boring shift, hence the sketch.

The lower sketch is based on Diane Arbus’s “Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C. 1962.” The sketch maybe looks pretty odd if you aren’t familiar with the reference. (Otto noted, “He’s adorable but I confess the angle of the head is kinda confusing me.” Then, after seeing the original, added “Pfff okay he just looks like that” and “Is that a grenade!?”)

Here’s my photo of a reproduction of Arbus’s original photo (which, stated like that, begins to sorta feel like I’m making a cheap Duchamp joke):

A picture of a reproduction of Diane Arbus's photography "Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C. 1962"