Text von Stefan Kobel
Man has been drawing ever
since he started trying to understand the world, that is more or less
since the very beginning of time. The history of art begins with the
first drawings in prehistoric caves. Long before writing, people
expressed their ideas, wishes and fears through pictures,
straightforward, not circuitously. These pictures were drawings or a
compilation of many drawings in which each element was significant –
background, context and décor were non-existent. These traits make up
the universal character of drawings. Until today they continue to speak
directly to the observer, overcoming cultural barriers.
Ideas
are often best expressed through drawings, because they do without the
superfluous and concentrate on the essentials. This is a quality that
was highly regarded during the Renaissance: in Florence and Rome in
the 16 th century, “Disegno” was the highest expression of quality for
art. The “Disegno” concept embraced the whole process, from the idea of
divine inspiration flowing out of the artist´s pencil to the complete
composition of a picture. In fact, during this time drawings shared the
same status as paintings. Michelangelo, for example, did not want the
Medici ruler to get even one single drawing, despite the fact that the
Florentine nobleman so desired them that he sent messengers to Rome
immediately upon the genius' death, only to find that on his death bed
he had ordered everything to be burned.
The
other universal great, Leonardo da Vinci, took drawing in a different
direction, one which in the end proved to be detrimental for using this
technique as an artistic means of expression. His sketches of machines
and various apparatus were to initiate the age of great inventions and
their simple beauty still fascinate us today. Ever since, science
prefers to use drawings to depict ideas and designs. Through their
focus on the essential, drawings allow complex processes and designs to
become clear and universally understood. As a result, far into the 20
th century drawing was considered to be a lesser form of artistic
expression, suitable merely for an outline or a quick sketch.
In
the Romantic period, however, this medium blossomed. Especially due to
it's ability to directly depict that which has been experienced, it
accommodated the young artists in their search for nature and the
divine. The intimate character of the works made them to be favorite
gifts of the Nazarenes and Lukasbuendler, that they would present to
each other as tokens of friendship.
Due to
the mixture of styles in today's art production and the almost
unlimited blending of various techniques, drawing has taken on a
special role, through which the artist can prove his expertise and the
substance of his ideas. Composition and implementation must be
accomplished through a relatively small format, without the possibility
of covering up a lack of substance. Here, on the other hand, the artist
can, without regard to convention, choose the fundamental or the
trivial for greater scrutiny.
In this sense the colored sketches by Cornelius Völker of Düsseldorf are no mere preparatory endeavors for subsequent
paintings but momentary images which depict the special charm or lure
of seemingly everyday situations. With sure strokes the quiet poetry of
a likewise seemingly modest meal is depicted and cautiously colored.
The presented oysters appear innocent on a white surface deplete of any
narrative context. At the same time it is exactly this form of
presentation which allows the observer to let his fantasy take rein.
This is also true for the scene of a woman undressing. What looks like
a careless everyday act attains a sensual quality through the use of a
few colorful strokes of the brush whose subtleties would be lost in a
painting.
In his sketches, Völker allows
the observer to create the story in his mind by awakening his
imagination, without, however, imposing his own script.
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Faxineiro I , 2004 pencil and watercolor on paper 37,5 x 52 cm
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Oysters, 2005 pencil and watercolor on paper 57 x 76 cm
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Faxineiro II, 2004 pencil and watercolor on paper 37,5 x 52 cm
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In his drawings, Waltercio Caldas ,
continues the course which he set in his sculptures. The confusion is
taken even further here. Space seems to dissolve and is reduced to
absurdity. In the tradition of the neo-concretism of a Lygia Clark or a
Hélio Oiticica, Caldas' works, with their virtual play on habits of
sight and interpretational patterns, reach beyond the formal rigidity
of their predecessors of the 50's and 60s. What at first looks like
advertisement illustrations from an Art Deco magazine or compositions
from Bauhaus artists, becomes a bewildering picture puzzle which
tries to elude any attempt at understanding. At the same time inserted
words offer a comment of what has been depicted which only adds to the
confusion. With few lines and shadings Caldas is able to set in motion
whole chains of association that continue to throw the observer off
track and make him doubt his own perceptions.
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Untitled, 2005 ink and crayon on paper 25,8 x 35,9 cm
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Untitled, 2005 ink, crayon and stamp on paper 25,8 x 35,9 cm
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Untitled, 2005 ink, crayon and stamp on paper 25,8 x 35,9 cm
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The American Kyung Jeon of Korean descent has chosen a completely different approach. Her
somewhat brazen seeming gouache drawings are of a rather more personal
nature. Formally influenced by the Japanese pop culture, they refer to
older Asian traditions by refraining from making full use the available
space. The obvious restriction on what is essential takes on a rather
threatening approach. While from a distance the miniature depictions at
first seem quaint, they force the observer to take a closer look which
then leads to a private universe full of nightmarish absurdities as
well as obsessions, frequently with an abstruse erotic component.
However, it is not the artist's intention to follow the fashionable
trend of celebrating an aberrant sexuality. On the contrary, her work
is always concerned with rather intimate topics replete with anxiety
and solitude. Kyung's art is marked by the search for identity in a
multi-cultural world dominated by whites.
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Anchor, 2004 gouache on paper 33 x 24 cm courtesy: Léo Bahia arte contemporânea
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Follow Her, 2004 gouache on paper 33 x 24 cm courtesy: Léo Bahia arte contemporânea
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Walking with Heads, 2004 gouache on paper 33 x 24 cm courtesy: Léo Bahia arte contemporânea
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