Waltercio Caldas, Cornelius Völker, Kyung Jeon - Zeichnungen

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.

Cornelius Völker - Faxineiro I, 2004
Cornelius Völker - Oysters, 2004
Cornelius Völker -Faxineiro II, 2004
Faxineiro I , 2004
pencil and watercolor on paper
37,5 x 52 cm
Oysters, 2005
pencil and watercolor on paper
57 x 76 cm
Faxineiro II, 2004
pencil and watercolor on paper
37,5 x 52 cm

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.

Waltercio Caldas - 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.
Waltercio Caldas - 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.
Waltercio Caldas - 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.
Untitled, 2005
ink and crayon on paper
25,8 x 35,9 cm
Untitled, 2005
ink, crayon and stamp on paper
25,8 x 35,9 cm
Untitled, 2005
ink, crayon and stamp on paper
25,8 x 35,9 cm

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.

Kyung Jeon, Anchor, 2004 - 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.
Kyung Jeon, Follow Her, 2004 - 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.
Kyung Jeon, Walking with Heads, 2004 - 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.
Anchor, 2004
gouache on paper
33 x 24 cm
courtesy: Léo Bahia arte contemporânea
Follow Her, 2004
gouache on paper
33 x 24 cm
courtesy: Léo Bahia arte contemporânea
Walking with Heads, 2004
gouache on paper
33 x 24 cm
courtesy: Léo Bahia arte contemporânea

Stefan Kobel is art critic and editor of the Kunstpresse/Cologne

Translation: Carol Schneider

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