Stephen Antonakos (American, born Greece 1926-2013), Untitled Drawing (JA #70) Berlin, 1980, colored pencil on vellum, 20 x 14 3/4 inches, Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, University of Richmond Museums, Gift of Sally and Wynn Kramarsky, H2017.09.01
Exhibition
Sep 15, 2017
throughApr 20, 2018

Iterations: Contemporary Approaches to Drawing

Print this event Add to Outlook Add to iOS Device Add to Google Calendar Add to Google Calendar

The University of Richmond Museums presents Iterations: Contemporary Approaches to Drawing, on view from September 15, 2017, to April 22, 2018, in the Joel and Lila Harnett Print Study Center. The exhibition features a selection of drawings recently donated to the Joel and Lila Harnett Print Study Center from prominent drawing collectors, Sally and Wynn Kramarsky. For the exhibition, most of the drawings are accompanied with a quote selected by the curator to offer insight into the particular artist’s approach to drawing and philosophy regarding the art form.

About the exhibition

The artists in the exhibition can be linked to Minimalism, Post-Minimalism, and Conceptual art practices, but they also offer different explorations of processes and materials. These artists reject traditional, representational approaches to drawing, challenging the medium’s art historical past. Furthermore, they consider drawing to serve more than a preliminary function in the artistic process, such as a precursor for a painting or sculpture, and instead recognize it as its own art form.

Highlighted in the exhibition are works by well-known as well as emerging artists who embrace drawing in their practices, such as William Anastasi (American, born 1933), Stephen Antonakos (American, born Greece, 1926-2013), Mel Bochner (American, born 1940), Teo González (Spanish, born 1964), Sharon Louden (American, born 1964), Sol LeWitt (American, 1928-2007), and others.

Many of the artists included in the exhibition are engaged in a variety of artistic pursuits aside from drawing, and also consider themselves painters, sculptors, installation, video, and sound artists. They offer interdisciplinary approaches to drawing, working with materials, techniques, and processes not often associated with the medium.

Cyrilla Mozenter (American, born 1947) does not conform to rigidly defined, conventional drawing practices. Her drawing, Very well saint (#41), 1999, is paired with a quote from the artist: “I consider my drawings to be sculptures because they are built and my sculptures to be drawings because they are linear, gestural and have to do with mark making and placement.”

Frank Badur’s (German, born 1944) two untitled drawings, both from 2005, are accompanied by a quote regarding drawing’s ability to provide the artist with a sense of immediacy in the creative process, as he remarks, “for me, drawing is very intimate, and painting is something you can feel or measure with your body. A work on paper is really in your hand: you measure it with your hand, and you hold your tool in your hand.”

Sound and visual artist Tristan Perich (American, born 1982) uses a custom-built machine to create his drawings. Machine Drawing (2007-03-09 2:27 PM) (2007) is presented with a quote from the artist, describing how he makes sense of the mechanically rendered marks made on paper: “I see randomness and order as occupying opposite ends of a continuous spectrum, and I use them to dictate the immediate motion of the pen.”

For artist Christine Hiebert (American, born 1960), whose works are gestural and improvisational, “a drawing is meant to provide a structure for a state of mind, a place where urges, fears, distractions, and flailings can take up residence and live, where dreams can happen.”

Organized by the University of Richmond Museums, the exhibition was curated by N. Elizabeth Schlatter, Deputy Director and Curator of Exhibitions, University Museums, and Sofia Nicolet ‘19, art history major, and the 2017 Harnett Summer Research Fellow, University of Richmond Museums.

Programming

Friday, September 15, 2017, 3 to 3:30 p.m.
Curator’s Talk, Harnett Print Study Center
“How to Approach Contemporary Drawing” Sofia Nicolet, ’19, art history major, University of Richmond, and 2017 Harnett Summer Research Fellow, University of Richmond Museums


Iterations: Contemporary Approaches to Drawing

Related Events

There are no events currently scheduled.