Thursday, September 1, 2011

Men, Women & Children--Recent Drawings

"Man In A Polka-Dot Shirt"
"Blunt Man"

In drawing, it seems to me that skill and clumsiness are both useful tools. Skill can complete the drawing, but it is possible for the finished product to retain a little too much finish. Some skill is definitely necessary, but dazzling skill can blind the artist as well as the viewer. Masters like Rembrandt and the Asian brush artists seemed to work at a pace that outstrips our digital age, yet their drawings move well beyond skill, to an image of the heart and mind in motion. Clumsiness can, it's true, be a towering barrier; but it can also be a judicious pause, the silence around sound essential to music and just as useful in the visual arts. Hopefully, these thoughts are woven into the drawings I include here, not as an excuse for their shortcomings (which are certainly clear enough), but as a personal form of light.


"Woman In



"The Angled Back"
"Thin Girl"
"Girl In A Fake-Fur Vest"