I find that writing about what I'm doing helps to clarify my thoughts. So here's my thoughts about one direction in my drawings. First, I will put up pictures of three other artists whose work seems without thinking to be going in the direction I'm thinking about. Then I'll think about that direction by examining those artists pictures as visual mechanisms and try to take apart how one or two of their pictures work . I do this in order to help clarify my thoughts.But I think where I function from as an artist my not at all be driven by this analysis or my thoughts.

These painters are anne gale,jordan wolfson, and giacometti

First thoughts on giacometti:

1) in this work, there is a delicate harmony of grays and muted rose tones
quoting Fletcher;
2)there are rectangles within rectangles which serve to isolate the figure and progressively recede the figure back into space;
3)The bottom of the figure is almost on the picture plane;
4) The space moves:from the bottom it goes back ,then up,then back and then up to the head;
5)  there is a lack of detail for hands,elbows,etc;
6) The edges of the figure, of tables,chairs etc are indefinitely. revealed by several lines,or edges;
7) The proportions of the figure progressively shrink so that the head is isolated and smaller than in reality;
8) There are interesting little light effects within each of these small isolating boxes around the figure;
9) The lines in the drawing create the illusion of three dimensional space and also sometimes work against it
10) The erasures --how do they work?

Ann Gale

1) The figures assume a slightly psychological pose,particularly with their face expression;
2) The small brush strikes insure continual processing ;
3) There are bits and pieces of 3 d perspectives;
4)There are parts of the figure that aren't complete--like the left arm,one of the edges of one of the legs;
5) There is almost never a straight edge;
6) It's almost as if there were several viewpoints on the figure;
7) The color of the background is woven through the figure;
8)Roughly there are three bands of color;
9) There are  directional lines within the background that seem to reinforce figure elements e.g. leads to area at feet;stops the eye at the left arm;one over the head; others catch your attention only.

Wolfson

1) it's almost as if he draws the scene and then goes back and erases information without losing the 3 d dimensionality;
2)There is white and black,with a very wide range of greys mostly toward the darker grey end(the photo is way to light);
3) The lines of the smeared charcoal lead the viewer into the composition,or the darken smear also reinforces the composition;
4) There are at least two kinds of light-one natural,and another from the paper and from the drawing;
5) In this drawing alot of the dark lines add a density to the drawing but in my view aren't necessary;
6)I'm not convinced this drawing actually works;


More on Wolfson,

1) these drawings are 3 d accurate
2)Why are several areas drawn over again and again to become a style
3)they recede in space from lower left to upper right
4) Erasures are done on all four sides of objects or rather on all four edges and usually in the middle with the middle of the side plane left open or erased
5) almost all of the edges have other lines breaking into through them
6)again edges are defined b y 3 or 4 lines
7)the floor is left white in most drawings
8) the darkest area is in the middle of the drawing as opposed to the edges,right or lower area.
These are just first responses,nothing definite.

Again the goal of these notes is to understand how these drawings work as visual mechanisms. it's sort of like taking apart a clock and then putting it back together again--to see  how it works. There are limits of this analogy,

What I think I have to do is first find out what each artist thought he or she was trying to do, then ask them if they felt they succeeded, and judge them on these standards. Finally, ,or maybe first, I'll try to define my reaction to their drawings and them ask how my reaction might occurs as  a response to the drawings themselves. Realizing my response is only one reading of the drawing.

So first, to Giacometti

First, I'm drawn immediately to the head.It feels set back behind the plane of the paper, psychologically,it feels reserved, or withdrawn into itself.With indistinct features, I don't quite attribute any particular emotion to it--like anger, you etc. Perhaps its a bit stern. tyhe space around the figure almost seems to envelope in from the sides. The change in color around the head further isolates the head almost from the body.--perhaps drawing more attention to the head,and it's stillness.

In other G's paintings I felt a presence in the work-- i don't in this work,nor does it seems over time to change "beings" as other of G's work has--at one time being one person at another being a totally different person.