DRAWING CHALLENGE VI
We are thrilled to announce Cheryl Goldsleger, Yasemin Kackar-Demirel, and Ev Pommer as the featured contestants of our Drawing Challenge VI, which used lyrics from "Up on the Roof", a song written by Carol King and Gerry Goffin in 1962.
We would like to thank the artist Peggy Roalf for suggesting these lines, which epitomized the urban romantic dream.
On the roof's the only place I know
Where you just have to wish to make it so
Oh, let's go up on the roof
At night the stars put on a show for free
And, darling, you can share it all with me
I keep on telling you
Right smack dab in the middle of town
I found a paradise that's trouble-proof
So if this world starts getting you down
There's room enough for two, up on the roof
-Carol King and Gerry Goffin-
Cheryl Goldsleger, Riser, 2012, charcoal, graphite, mixed media on linen, 70 x 62 inches
“I was invited to do research on Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue's original architectural drawings for his 1924 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) building in Washington, D.C. when the building was being restored. I was fascinated by its construction and its amazing Guastavino dome. By the end of the project, I created six large mixed media drawings on linen that incorporated the dome in each composition and a ghost-like 3D printed sculpture of the building under construction. All of the pieces were exhibited at the NAS when it reopened to the public. 'Riser' is one of the mixed media pieces that aspires to take the viewer to that beautiful dome on the roof.”
- Cheryl Goldsleger, 2020
www.cherylgoldsleger.com
Ev Pommer, milkyway III, 2013, wood and paper, 31 1/2 x 30 x 13 inches
“My work mirrors a physical manifestation of feelings and sensations. I look for images that express experiences, emotions and situations of human existence. It also focuses on the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the human body - those vectors that create presence in a room and awake spatial awareness.”
- Ev Pommer, 2020
www.evpommer.de
Yasemin Kackar-Demirel, Bring Back the Light, 2019, ink, graphite, colored pencil, paint marker, stitching on synthetic paper, 14 x 11 inches
“My paintings and mixed-media drawings explore the physical and psychological effects of entering and exiting places, using elements from nature and architecture through abstraction. This work resonates with the lyrics of the song 'Up on the Roof' with its two terrains resembling two figures emerging from the fragmented, dispersed, and marbled structures of the built environment of the city. The two figures, or lovers are attached to each other through stitching, which represents their union and synchronicity with the upward-moving energy that surrounds them. They are under the blackness of the sky, or up on the roof, watching the source of light appearing, perhaps the dawning of the new day on the left, and anticipating the brightness, clarity and hope that the sun would bring back to their land.”
-Yasemin Kackar-Demirel, 2020
www.yaseminkackar.com
Jennifer Viola, Untitled, 2020, pastel, acrylic, ink, gouache, pencil, 40 x 30 inches
Laura Dodson, Confection Express, 2015, mixed-media on paper, 23 x 17 inches
”Art is an arbiter between realism and artifice, between observed phenomena and interior states of mind. My work is a form of theater as well as a conduit for reverie.”
-Laura Dodson, 2020
www.lauradodson.net
Mary Jones, Studio Star, 2017, oil, ink, spray paint and acetate stencil on paper, 16 x 12 inches
www.maryjonesstudio.com
Alicia Rothman, Midtown, 2019, oil on panel, 5 x 7 inches
www.aliciarothman.com
”The work captures in some way, an urban dream of going up to the roof in the city. During this time of isolation simple things take on a new resonance. Roofs have been in my work for years - I have seen them in the back of paintings by Giotto and they appear in art in views of cities. Roofs are special because you are both inside and outside at the same time.”
Laura Karetzky, Embedded Kisser, 2014, oil drawing on wood, 16 x 20 inches
www.LauraKaretzky.com
David Rhodes, Untitled d 27.4.20, 2020, acrylic on paper, 12 x 9 inches
www.davidrhodes.net
Ulrika Strömbäck, For every relative fragment of one thing is a full harmonious unit in itself, 2017, glazed earthenware, 233 tiles total, Each: 4 x 4 inches.
www.ulrikastromback.com
”I am peeking and poking into keyholes, vents, cracks and holes in sewer covers as I go along. I press clay against surfaces and extrude clay into hidden spaces to discover unvisited interiors and open up inner worlds that exist within the outer world. My work is a diary of overlooked, deteriorating or unimportant details in landscapes that are under threat to disappear. Like a camera, each print records its latitude and longitude. Like a diary, the prints meditate on the physical, sensual and emotional experiences of the places I visit. The image shows one of the 233 tiles with impressions taken from my many walks through my neighborhood that together create the wall piece "For every relative fragment of one thing is a full harmonious unit in itself".
Lisa Breslow, Snowlight, 2019, oil & pencil on panel, 40 x 40 inches
www.lisabreslow.com
D. Dominick Lombardi,, CCWS 69, 2020, acrylic, ink and charcoal on paper mounted on wood, 30 x 67 inches
www.ddlombardi.com
Peggy Roalf, Island No. 4, August 1, 2018. Watercolor on Arches 300 g/m, 7 x 7-3/4 inches
www.peggyroalfnyc.net
Nina Meledandri, Up on the Roof, 2020, handmade recycled paper, pressed organic material, glitter
www.gallery.meledandri.com
Julie Shapiro, Disentangle, 2018, oil on canvas, 42 x 72 inches
www.julieshapiroart.com
Moses Hoskins, Untitled, 2020, oil on canvas, 52 x 52 inches
www.moseshoskins.net
Susan Moss, Colorsphere 4, 2020, oil and oil crayon on canvas, 84 x 60 inches
Friederike Oeser, Cut-Out Kurzreisen 2 (Short Trips 2), Plexiglass, screen printing, 25 x 22 4/5 x 3 1/2 inches
www.friederike-oeser.de
Betsy Podlach, HUG, 2007, oil on linen, 54 x 50 inches
Patricia Moss-Vreeland, For Dreaming and Flight
www.patriciamossvreeland.com
”The song's lyrics, triggered a memory of one of my favorite films, Wim Wender's Wings of Desire: The opening of the film, a child in a crowd looks up towards a roof. As the viewer, I distantly can make out a figure there, the film closing in, moving skyward, I can see a wing on his back, illuminated. Is it attached, perched, is it part of the many wings I imagine that float above, for the undetermined angels amongst us?”
Amanda Church, Full Swing, 2018, oil on canvas, 32 x 36 inches
Michelle Oosterbaan, When Stars Unfold Like Tents (detail), 2011, color pencil and graphite on paper, 65 x 51 3/8 inches
www.michelleoosterbaan.com
Carol Warner, Perfect Blue Buildings, 2014-15
www.carolwarnerstudio.com
Catherine Drabkin
www.catherinedrabkin.com
“As night approaches, I feel again the astonishing and refreshing poetry of a living, elusive reality. Drawing at twilight, in gardens or on rooftops, as the darkness finally seeps into night, can become a form of meditation. The play of shapes across the surface of the paper can come into alignment with this mysterious external world. Marks on a surface can echo the shapes of reality. Out in the landscape, the seduction of depth and space can exert a pull akin longing on us. I think this is why humans look for vistas and plant gardens. Through the subtle but accelerating shifts of light and atmosphere, the seen world can become a conduit to the felt world.”
Gerhard Lang, The process of seeing the waning moon, from the roof of 112 Hudson Street, Manhattan, 12.17am, 1 October 2012, Visus Signatus drawing, graphite on paper, 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches
www.gerhardlang.com
”I am looking through the telescope. While drawing, I am always looking at the moon, always. There is just the moon and me.”
Sidra Liaqat, In the ocean of passion, fear is not known
Robert G. Edelman, City Viewing, Summer, 1995, charcoal on paper, 25 x 20 inches
Lizbeth Mitty, Vanished, 2007, oil on canvas, 80 x 92 inches
www.LizbethMitty.com
Deanna Sirlin, Uncover, 2020, mixed media, 24 x 20 inches
www.deannasirlin.com