DRAWING CHALLENGE IV
Jason McCoy Gallery is pleased to present a selection of submissions that we received in answer to our Drawing Challenge IV, which was announced on April 22nd, 2020. The below artworks were prompted in response to the following words by Rachel Carson (1907-1964), taken from her book "Silent Spring" (1962), which documented the adverse effects of industrial pesticides on the environment. We would like to thank the artist Nathaniel Galka for submitting these lines.
"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth
find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -
the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter."
Alyssa E. Fanning, Purple Scatter, 2019, colored pencil on paper, 12 x 16 inches
"Through painting and drawing I explore the physical and psychological effects of natural and man-made disasters. Following Hurricane Irene in the fall of 2011, I began studies of the storm's effects on the Hackensack River Watershed, Bergen County, New Jersey, a site that has long been inspirational to me. The watershed contains lush ecosystems that are under constant threat of development: the Hackensack and its post-flood landscape presented a microcosm of a state of devastation that exists on a much larger global scale. My perceptual exploration of this event evolved into drawn renderings of catastrophes of the mind, such as my After Goya's Disasters of War, 2014-15, along with scenes of hope after the deluge, such as my drawing Purple Scatter, 2019. The subject of disaster and its ruins becomes a metaphor for the anxiety of our economic and ecological decline while providing the groundwork for a reimagined future of promise and possibility."
- Alyssa E. Fanning, 2020
www.alyssaefanning.com
Michelle Oosterbaan, Geo Cycle, 2019, color pencil and graphite on Fabriano Paper, 51 x 62 inches
“My work is drawn from light and color found in Dutch and Icelandic landscapes. Geometry and gestural marks provide the syntax through which I pinpoint geography and celestial space. I draw to investigate ideas of cartography, memory, and place as meditations on cinematic light, charting space with sign and symbol, to create what I call nocturnes. I aim to chart the intricacies of the evolution of place, when a place is "full of wonder." Iceland's skies' silent, yet inexplicable, rhythmic qualities remain palpable to me. While there, I search for the moments that light seems to document the ephemeral, transcendent moments which exist in the liminal spaces between the sky and earth.”
- Michelle Oosterbaan, 2020
www.michelleoosterbaan.com
Hermine Ford, My Science, 2017, gouache, ink, graphite on paper, 20 x 30 inches
“My understanding of my own work over the years teaches me that the intersection between science, nature, culture and history has fueled my image making, even when I didn’t quite realize it myself. The physical world, visible and invisible, the evolution of our knowledge about it arrives to me in overlapping visual images.”
- Hermine Ford, 2020
www.hermineford.com
Kathleen Kucka, Phenomenological Series #7, 2015, burns and oil stick on paper, 26 x 20 inches
“We are all looking for connection and sustenance for the soul as we self isolate. I have been in Falls Village, Connecticut for 7 weeks and today the sun is shining! Four years ago, I started working in a studio at the foothills of the Berkshire mountains. It has been ground changing, to say the least! The trees and birds surrounding me seem to actually speak and let me know we need to take care of each other and the earth. We have become beekeepers and that connection has entered into my work: The busy hive, the search for nectar, the honey harvest all golden and sustaining. I started This drawing at the beginning of my time here in the country.”
- Kathleen Kucka, 2020
www.kathleenkucka.com
Tara Mahapatra, Blooming # 1, 2018, graphite on paper, 9 1/2 x 12 1/2 inches
”Spring is my favorite season. Especially this moment right now in Berlin, when the tree buds seem to explode with fresh new leaves everywhere. My "Blooming" Drawing Series was inspired by this.”
- Tara Mahapatra, 2020
www.taramahapatra.com
Robert Schatz, Enso 2, 2019, liana, joinery, glue, paper, plaster, acrylic medium and paint, 35 3/4 x 35 3/4 x 1 1/4 inches
"Step out onto the Planet. Draw a circle a hundred feet round. Inside the circle are 300 things nobody understands, and maybe nobody's ever seen." Lew Welch, Hermit Poems. The circle symbolizes many things to us: wholeness, cycles of time, the world, strength, elegance, fullness, and emptiness. This piece is crafted out of joined segments of wood, replete with "imperfections" in the arc (since perfection is only a concept in the mind). It references those Zen ink drawings of circles called ensō.”
- Robert Schatz, 2020
www.robertschatz.com
Friederike Oeser, Cut-Out No. 6 Plexi, plexiglass, screen printing, 20 1/2 x 35 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches
www.friederike-oeser.de
“The branches and knotholes of trees beaten by wind over time greet me on my daily walk to my studio, and change their expression each hour from day to night, forcing even the moss on the ground to read every new mood: celebration or despair, hope or its absence, are there with every shift of light. So I capture their message and whisper it into the mind of a sculpture with its own branches and knotholes, asking only that it speak the message, every hour of every day. What is the message, you ask? Finding out is simple—just listen to the nature.”
Ute Hoffritz, Flood, 2001, pencil and chinese ink with paintbrush on paper, 15 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches
www.ute-hoffritz.de
Ev Pommer, Fluss, 2016, wood, 80 1/2 x 65 x 63 inches
www.evpommer.de
Deanna Sirlin, Best Laid Plan, 2020, mixed media on vellum, 11 x 8 1/2 inches
www.deannasirlin.com
Ulrika Strömbäck, Gardening At Night, 2016, glazed earthenware with gold, 14 3/16 x 8 11/16 inches
www.ulrikastromback.com
Nathaniel Galka, dancing in the dappled light..., 2019, oil on marble plastered panel with gold leaf, 48 x 43 inches
www.nathanielgalka.com
Walter Markham, Tar and Feather Painting, 4th Variation, cement, goose feathers on stretched canvas and gold leaf on iron frame, 84 x 82 x 80 inches
www.waltermarkham.site
Pat Badt, Prime Gratitudes: that spring always returns, 2019, oil on panel, 5 x 5 Inches
www.patbadt.com
Tanzanight, Memoriam: Watery Quality, 2017-2018, Oil on canvas, 33 1/4 x 16 inches
www.tanzanightvisualartist.com
Cathy Diamond, Pink Garden, 2017, acrylic and gouache on paper, 19 x 27 inches
www.cathydiamond.com
“Pink Garden expresses once dormant forms brought to life with the warmth of the sun. These explosions of form are re-experienced anew after the bare winter trees have once again stood brave at attention through desolate months. The pods and colored bursts are as if laughing and chattering with their companion birds, singing of hope for the world, once again.”
Dominque Labauvie, Les Pleiades, metal relief, woodcut, gold leaf printed on kitakata chine collé to Somerset, Edition of 10, 28 x 37 inches
www.labauvie.com
Kathleen Goncharov, Squid, 2020, colored pencil on paper, 12 x 8 inches
Barbara Rabkin
“I made this mosaic to honor the memory of my daughter-in-law, Naomi Rabkin. She was an advocate for safeguarding the environment, food justice and sustainability. The mosaic includes my own ceramic pieces, recycled pottery and glass mortared on to a found granite slab.”
Alicia Rothman, Rainstorm, 2019, mixed media on panel, 8 x 10 inches
Julie Shapiro, Still, 2020, graphite, colored pencil, gouache "rinse" on carborundum aquatint, 20 x 20 inches
www.julieshapiroart.com
Rebecca Clark, Bird, Bee, and Late Summer Grass, 2011, graphite on paper, 30 x 22 inches
www.rebeccaclarkart.com
Simon Frank, Imprint
”Attached is an image of Imprint - an ephemeral work that I have created a number of times outside of galleries where I have exhibitions. The tree drawing is created during the spring/early summer by temporarily preventing the light from reaching the grass. Without light, the grass does not produce the green pigment of chlorophyll and turns yellow. Removing the masking reveals the tree form - like a shadow that has become material - until it fades slowly from sight over the course of a week or two, as the grass turns green again.”
Cristina deGennaro, Sage Drawing X, 2019, Charcoal on mylar, 42 x 96 inches
www.cristinadegennaro.com