“Lossiness,” 2012
Charcoal and graphite on paper
24″ x 72″
I am proud to present DRAWING NOW PHILADELPHIA, highlighting leading local artists who exemplify the versatility of drawing by stretching the traditional boundaries of the genre. DRAWING NOW PHILADELPHIA will feature 14 Philadelphia-based artists whose work is at the forefront of the medium: Ruth Scott Blackson, Astrid Bowlby, Amze Emmons, Alexis Granwell, Daniel Heyman, Sharka Hyland, Colin Keefe, Erin Murray, Michelle Oosterbaan, Serena Perrone, Mia Rosenthal, Hiro Sakaguchi, Caroline Santa, and Samantha Simpson. By exhibiting a well-rounded variety of artistic practices, concepts and visions related to drawing, DRAWING NOW PHILADELPHIA offers a glimpse into the latest directions and developments in drawing and works on paper.
Drawing is a process of investigation, of testing, and questioning, a meditation on the medium itself. It is not and never has been a simplistic or subordinate medium. It is a wordless language, and an image-extension of the artist. It functions as notation, as a means of transposing streams of consciousness, or as experimentation with ideas and processes. Shirking grandeur, ostentation, and effect, the flexibility of drawing as well as its economy of means allows for a sincere revelation of the artist’s mark and purest aesthetic gestures.
Gone are the days when drawing or working on paper were viewed as merely preparatory, novice or journalistic. While many other genres have come in and out of fashion and fallen victim to perpetual self-re-invention, drawing has quietly maintained its purity, and, unimpressed by the short life span of popular, cutting edge approaches of other media, it has persisted and preserved the simplicity of basic forms, of the mark, of concepts, and principles of aesthetics. Yet drawing still doesn’t get the attention it should. Nor do the artists. DRAWING NOW PHILADELPHIA hopes to bring to light the work of some of the region’s leading artists and to bring well deserved attention to the Philadelphia art scene.
DRAWING NOW PHILADELPHIA, hosted by ArtSpace Liberti, opens on September 5, 2014 and will run through October 26, 2014. Join us for an artist talk with Astrid Bowlby, Ruth Scott Blackson and Colin Keefe, Friday, September 19, from 6:30 to 8:30pm.
DRAWING NOW PHILADELPHIA
Sabina Tichindeleanu, curator
Emilie Keim Viss, assistant curator
ArtSpace Liberti, 2424 E. York St.
Opening: September 5, 2014, 6:30pm
Subscribe to ArtGrind or follow me on twitter (@tichindeleanu) for updates
“Oval”
“Auditory Evidence,” 2009
Woodcut and silverpoint on mylar
9.75″ x 12″
Image courtesy of Cade Tompkins Projects
“After Bierstadt: Storm in the Mountains,” 2013
Ink on paper
13¼” x 20″
Image courtesy of Gallery Joe
“Heliotrope,” 2013
Ink on paper
30” x 44”
“Learning Curve (Dartmouth),” 2013
Oil on mylar
42″ x 30″
“Night Atlas,” 2013
Mixed media on Arches paper
22” x 30″
Art Grind 