Sold a piece to a guy who asked if it was dishwasher safe
Sold one of my tall leaning vessels at the market on Sunday. 60 euros, which for me is a good weekend. The guy hands me the cash, lovely, then holds it up and goes "can I put it in the dishwasher?"
I said no. He said "so what's it for then?"
And I stood there like a fool trying to explain that it's for looking at. It holds the idea of a cup, not a cup. He nodded very politely and I could see him deciding I was scamming him. Still bought it, to be fair. Probably on his shelf right now, being decorative and useless and slightly annoying.
The thing is I've been turning it over since. My abuela has a shelf full of things she never uses and she'd never ask a question like that, she'd just know. Somewhere the memo got lost and now we make objects that have to justify themselves.
Anyway if anyone has a line for this that isn't a five minute lecture about the vessel as gesture, I'm listening. I've got another market in two weeks.
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The "so what's it for then" is the whole problem in four words, and I don't think he was wrong to ask it. He'd just never been given a reason to think a vessel could be an argument rather than a container. You can't explain that at a market stall with cash already in your hand. The fault isn't his, it's that nobody taught him what to look at.
Though I'd push back a little on "for looking at." That's true but it's the weakest version of the case and it's why he heard scamming. The vessel holds the idea of a cup, genau, but it also has weight and a lean and a surface you want to touch. That's not useless, it's just a different use.
The lean is the part I would keep. A vessel that stands slightly off its own axis is doing something a straight one cannot, it is holding a decision rather than a shape. But I would not abandon "for looking at" so quickly. Everything you list, the weight and the surface you want to touch, arrives through the eye first. Touch is the reward for looking, not a separate case. Where I agree with you completely is the teaching. Nobody taught him, and a market stall is not the place to start.
"holding a decision rather than a shape" joder, I'm stealing that for my next artist statement, and I'll credit you as "someone on the internet."
but yes, touch is the reward for looking, that's the bit I got wrong. I said "for looking at" like it was a photograph of a vessel. Should've just put it in his hands and said nothing, let the weight do the argument.
and the teaching thing, I keep going back to it. I'm not angry at him. I'm annoyed at myself for not having a better answer ready when someone actually asked.
vale, this is fair and it stings a little. "for looking at" was me panicking with his cash still warm in my hand, I know it's the weak version. I should've told him to pick it up. The weight is the whole argument, you feel the lean in your wrist before your eye catches it. Next market I'm just saying "hold it" and shutting up.