DRAWING CHALLENGE I
Jason McCoy Gallery is pleased to present a selection of submissions that we received in answer to our Drawing Challenge I, which was announced on April 8th, 2020. The below artworks were prompted in response to the following excerpt from Laurie Anderson's song "Kokoku" (1984).
They say the world is smaller now.
Small world.
They say that man is taller now.
Tall man.
They say the stars are close now.
Thank you, lucky stars
Josette Urso, To The Moon And Back, April 2020, watercolor, ink crayon, paper collage and metro card, 13 x 13 inches
"Kokoku was one of the first songs I heard when I first came across Laurie Anderson in the 1980s. I was in graduate school in Tampa and listened to Mr Heartbreak literally over and over again. My admiration for her work has only grown with time and by coincidence, hers was the first cd I reached for when I realized it was time to start rationing my news intake during this frightening time. So, now, so many years later, I am again listening to Laurie Anderson literally over and over again in my studio."
-Josette Urso, 2020
www.josetteurso.com
Don Lewallen, Colors of Time, 2019, Colored pencil on paper, 20 x 14 inches
”I make sense of the world through my drawings: dissecting, changing, reorganizing. The shapes in my work may appear non-referential, but there is a lingering sense of the familiar. I gather images from many subjects and sources that interest me (newspapers, art, nature, science and math). I then begin to draw with colored pencils, to articulate and relate the seemingly random, chaotic parts into an enigmatic known. Things never are what they are, once expressed, compressed or altered. The shifting, the recombining, the changes in the spatial relationships invite a new perception—a re-interpretation of the mediated world.
As I move through the world, I collect shapes, making quick line drawings of the ones that excite me. In my studio, I start with a single shape, adding color and texture until it feels alive. I add more one at a time, creating a set of compositional relationships that articulate a unified field of vision. I use color, proximity, and position with a variety of marks (smooth gradation, controlled line, rough-edged) to create and resolve disparities. Soon this careful process of building gives way, and the world that is gradually being revealed takes on a life of its own.”
-Don Lewallen, 2020
www.donlewallen.com
Melinda Hackett, Drawing #3, 2017, 10 x 13 inches
“My work deals with scale: the view through a microscope, the view through a telescope, and also references nature as a way to reflect on the human condition. In the drawing the tendrils remind me of tall men reaching out, and the orange stars zipping towards us through a yellow sky become our lucky stars.”
-Melinda Hackett, 2020
www.melindahackett.com
Ute Hoffritz, Small World, 2012, bronze, ed. 2/7, 2 x 4 x 4 2/5 inches
www.ute-hoffritz.de
Bettina Blohm, Untitled, 2013 (Berlin), colored pencil and conte crayon on paper
www.bettinablohm.com
Matthew Bliss, Almost Drew the Moon
Susan Moss
Danielle Frankenthal, graphite, ink and colored pencil on found board, 15 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches
www.daniellefrankenthal.com
Bill Claps, Stalks of Rice…Left Unharvested, 2018
www.billclaps.net
Bradley Wester, Lucky Stars, 2020, plastic jewels, holographic and glitter tape, glitter glue, inked printer paper, acrylic inks, 14 x 10 inches
www.bradleywester.com
Michael Lee, Modernist Fence, 2013, ink and graphite on paper, 30 x 22 inches
www.michaelaaronlee.com
Alicia Rothman, Horse With Dots and Stars
www.aliciarothman.com
Linda Toner, Man Fishing, mixed media, 8 x 10 inches
Deanna Sirlin, Together, 2020, mixed media, 7 x 12 inches
www.deannasirlin.com
Karen Shaw, Kokoku Summed Up, 2020
www.karenshaw100.com
Emily Eveleth
www.emilyeveleth.com
Ryan Brotter
Julie Shapiro, Close Now, 2020, colored pencil on cut paper with collage, 12 x 15 1/2 inches
www.julieshapiroart.com
Nathaniel Galka, What a Flight, 2019, mixed media on paper, 17 x 13 inches
www.nathanielgalka.com
Rebecca Clark, Bee 33 (Evening), 2012, graphite on paper, 21 1/4 x 10 3/4 inches
www.rebeccaclarkart.com
Betti Franceschi, Maurice Berger, 1981
Friederike Oeser, The Colors of Happiness, oil pastel on paper, 15 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches
www.friederike-oeser.de
John Boone
www.johnboonestudio.com