The Black.Light Project

George Pratt, an instructor I had at Pratt (no relation), recently took part with other artists in the Black.Light Project. The project deals with the Charles Taylor wars in West Africa and their aftermath, and blends photography by Wolf Böwig, text by Pedro Rosa Mendes, and art by the various artists. The goal of the Black.Light Project was for the artists to give voice to those in West Africa who cannot speak for themselves.

George has a pretty stellar blog post about a workshop the artists took place in in Germany: http://georgepratt.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/the-black-light-project/. It’s a pretty long post, but it gives you a great behind the scenes look at a bunch of talented people working together for a great cause. What could be a better endeavor? Plus the post is filled with a ton of great drawing and painting. I highly recommend you give it a gander.

The pen is mightier…?

© chris duggan

Today I brought my pens with me to an open figure drawing session for the first time in a while. It wasn’t a conscious decision on my part, but the pencil/charcoal has been my sidekick for way too long.

The great thing about switching up to a pen is the changes it makes in the way you draw. The pen forces commitment. There is no eraser or “command Z” with ink, you can not push it around the surface, and it can’t be corrected. The intent of line with a pen is permanent and unforgiving. Drawing with this mindset can at times be a fright, other times liberating, and always a necessity. The fright comes from the notion of making a mistake, a line that is too thick, or misplaced, too harsh, or too angled, something that can’t be erased or covered. Where your drawing will advance all around is in the ability to use that energy to your advantage. To let the fear and commitment walk a fine line together and have it show in the work.

There are also some good life lessons to be learned with drawing with ink. Those lessons are in the mistakes. With ink mistakes are inevitable, so we must either learn to live with them, or we can start all over. The trick is in knowing which path to choose and when. But sometimes, just sometimes, taking that mistake and working with it, letting the mistake live and enhancing it can make it become a thing of beauty.

Now, if I could just be as adept at the life stuff as I am with drawing…

 

The Drawing Center

I recently visited the newly reopened Drawing Center on Wooster Street in SoHo. This small gallery space is home to 2 exhibition rooms, a book store, and in the basement what they call  The Lab, a collection of meeting and class rooms.

Taken directly from their misson statement: The Drawing Center is the only fine arts institution in the U.S. to focus solely on the exhibition of drawings, both historical and contemporary. It was established in 1977 to provide opportunities for emerging and under-recognized artists; to demonstrate the significance and diversity of drawings throughout history; and to stimulate public dialogue on issues of art and culture. Located in SoHo, The Drawing Center’s galleries provide an intimate and human scale viewing experience. It has been called “one of the city’s most highly respected small art museums” by The New York Times.

Currently the exhibition spaces are showing Diarios, by artist Guillermo Kuitca. The works in Diarios are discarded canvases that Guillermo stretched over a round table in his studio, and used the table to scribble notes, phone numbers, sketches for new works, whatever doodles or information came to hand at the time.  And it’s time that was the deciding factor of each piece, basically they became visual diaries that spanned a certain amount of time and weren’t dictated on when the artist thought they where finished pieces. Just a record of ideas and info in time.

In the smaller gallery is The Year Books, by Colombian artist Jose Antonio Suarez Londono. This exhibition is a selection of notebooks containing works from the artist’s ongoing project in which he creates a daily drawing based on a book or series of books that he reads.

Along with the gallery exhibits, The Drawing Center also runs educational programs and special events with artists and curators. Personally I think it would be pretty righteous if they ran some open figure drawing classes, but any organization dedicated to drawing is pretty stellar in my book. Plus who knows what we might see them do in the future?

If you’re in NYC, swing by and check them out. You can also help support the Center by becoming a member. All info is here.

Pratt Institute: Drawing Club

My  alma mater, and the place I learned the true value and importance of drawing from instructors like Sal Montano, Gerry Contreras, and Dave Passalaqua has a newly created Drawing Club. The club is a student group organized by fine arts adjunct professor Nanette Carter, and was established to promote drawing, and drawing as finished work in itself. The club also hangs student shows showcasing it’s members drawing work, and encourages students of all disciplines (not just fine arts) to participate. Seems like a truly rad idea that I wished had existed during my time on the Fort Greene campus.

You can get a read about the club here.

They also have a Facebook page here.

UPDATE:
The Drawing Club has started a their own blog as well. Click here.

Skinless nekid people

An understanding of anatomy is a very important part of any artists arsenal. The knowledge of the forms under the skin, how they move, push and pull, and work together help make any image of a human (or animal for that matter) that much more believable. It’s also very useful when we run into trouble trying to figure things out and how they should look should we be drawing from our heads or from a live model that might be in a dynamic position. Having that knowledge of how limbs move and interact is really the only way to get it right.

AnatomyTools.com offers some brilliant products to give you a detailed look inside the human form. I own a couple of their pieces and they are exceptionally accurate and detailed. The models are great for throwing a light on them, pulling out some drawing utensils and having a good analytical session. The posters they have are not only full of information, but are pretty beautiful in their own right. One section of my studio looks like a mad scientist’s lab with all the models and posters hung up.

AnatomyTools.com also has a variety of sculpture armatures and tools, busts, DVDs and books. They even offer on-line and on-site workshops and have showcases of artists work that covers everything from traditional to digital. Everything I have ever gotten from them has been top quality and very useful, I highly recommend any or their products for your pursuit of drawing and anatomical education. If you’re not fortunate enough to get to go to a morgue and draw some cadavers (which is pretty badass once you get past the smell) AnatomyTools.com is the way to go.

And the Oscar goes to… Drawing?

I’m very much looking forward to the release of the newest Werner Herzog documentary “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” which explores the Chauvet Cave (discovered in 1994) in southern France. The cave is home to ancient drawings over 32,000 years old, the oldest known visual art in history, almost twice as old as any other previous discovery.

From the trailer and all the reviews I’ve read thus far, the movie seems to be fantastic. In addition to the subject matter, the fact that’s it’s a Herzog film is pretty rad, plus Werner shot the film in 3D to help show how the ancient “artists” used the forms of the cave walls to accentuate the forms of the animals and figures they were depicting. Werner himself has been quoted as saying the works in the cave are “the beginnings of the modern human soul”. I for one, think it’s pretty righteous that drawings where that catalyst, and another fine example of the importance of drawing to human developement, both ancient and contemporary.

“Cave of Forgotten Dreams” opens in theaters April 29th, 2011

Book: Classical Drawing Atelier

Classical Drawing Atelier: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practices, by Juliette Aristides, is a righteous book for those interested in a little more advanced look into drawing.

Juliette examines drawing from the angle of the “old-school” art instruction “Ateliers”, the most common form of art study from the 15th to 19th century. Basically, an established artist would take on students in their studio, and make them draw plaster casts of old sculptures a hundred or so times. When the artist was satisfied, they would move the students up to drawing the human figure… a hundred or so times. At this point the artist might actually hand out a paintbrush and continue through these academic tasks, gradually building up the students skills to full-fledged paintings.

The book also delves into the techniques and styles of a few of the “old masters”, gives a fairly good overview of the use of the Golden Section in composition, and shows a good amount of work from contemporary “Ateliers” that seem to be enjoying a rebirth. Even though these contemporary ateliers resemble a more modern structured school, then a classical artistic apprenticeship, they are teaching the same methods and approaches.

Classical Drawing Atelier: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice is loaded with fantastic drawing work and some great tutorials. I highly recommend it for any drawing enthusiast, it is available through Amazon.com (click here)

Yep, it’s a Picasso

A fine example of the importance of drawing on all styles of art is the icon of abstract art, Pablo Picasso. The 2 drawings above are examples of some of Picasso’s early studies, and his skill as a classical draftsman is very evident. Form, light and dark, control of line, a true sense of seeing the subject, all are masterfully handled and applied.

Now, I’ve never met Picasso, nor seen or read any interviews (there might be something out there) with him discussing the application of his classical training to his later abstract art, but I personally believe that the knowledge he gained about form and space, from his early work, directly influenced the work he became famous for. I’d even go as far to say that the idea of cubism, of looking at a subject from many different angles at the same time, was a direct result of his early figure work, and learning how to see and interpret figure and form.

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Picasso’s later work, but you can’t deny it’s importance or power. That power is a direct result of his drawing chops, knowing that every line on the canvas is there as intended, and for a reason, as a personal interpretation of form and subject. The painting here, Women at their Toilette, contains all the control and grace of line that his early studies does, it’s just a different approach and a new interpretation. But it is an educated interpretation, and this is what I believe made his work so appealing to so many. His early studies showed him what we were all seeing, he just showed us a different way to look at it. It also shows what an artist that learns to walk, before he runs, can accomplish.

Blog recco: Kent Williams@Random

© Kent Williams

One of my favorite painters, and fellow Pratt alum, Kent Williams, has a pretty righteous drawing blog of his own, entitled @Random.

The blog is pretty much just a showcase for his drawing and sketch work, and on occasion a sampling of a work-in-progress, from sketch to final painting. The blog is a great look into the process of a fantastic artist, and an inspiring site to visit regularly.

He also has another blog: http://www.kentwilliams.blogspot.com/ that is a regular update of his shows, publications, and painting work.

And his official portfolio site can be found here: KentWilliams.com

Drawing at the Museum of Natural History

 © chris duggan

The American Museum of Natural History, here in NYC, periodically offers a killer class on animal drawing, instructed by Stephen C. Quinn. The class is 5 Wednesday nights, and runs from 7:00-9:00PM.

I’ve taken the class before and had a blast. For those people more experienced with drawing you probably wont pick up much about the art side of things, but Mr. Quinn is exceptionally knowledgable when it comes to animal anatomy, form and structure, from dinos to modern cats, you can pick up a ton of info about drawing beasts, big and small. He even throws in some great tales of the explorers, scientists, and artist that helped create and fill the museum. Plus, the biggest benefit of the class is access to an awesome museum after hours, and all to yourself, a fantastic way to experience such a great place. Add to it that the animals are presented in fantastic display, full of gesture and masterfully lit, it is a class well worth taking.

The drawings here are just a couple samples of some of the work I did when I last attended the museum sessions.

Class info here.

© chris duggan

© chris duggan