I thought, for my final post on this blog before we bring this semester to a complete close, I would give you guys a list of some contemporary artist who draw. So many of the artists we've looked at as references in this class (with the exception of Zac Smith) have all been dead white guys who were working 40 to 150 years ago. I think it's important that you see that there are artists right here and now who are just as concerned with the pursuit of draftsmanship in their work. Each of the artists below is out there working now, displaying in galleries and/or biennials. They are all very much alive (unless there's something I don't know) and active in the current art community. If you see any work here that you find fascinating, you should do some research of your own on that artist. Enjoy!
Mindaugas Lukosaitis
Anna Sigmond Gudmundsdottir
D-L Alvarez
(These may look like pixelated digital images, but they are executed in graphite pencil.)
Jason William Cole
(This guy is friggin' AWESOME. Hahaha)
Elizabeth Peyton
John Currin
Ernesto Caivano
Creighton Gann
(Creighton and I attended grad school together at MCA.)
It was a great semester. Some of you I will see again next semester. For those of you that I will not see, I wish you good luck with the rest of your time at MCA. Continue to be critical, analytical thinkers.
I am posting this because it will give you yet another opportunity to hear an artist talk about his own work, and because there's a section of the video in which he shows off his sketchbook. Enjoy.
Welcome back everyone. I hope that your Thanksgiving weekend went well and that you were able to enjoy the company of family and friends. If travel wasn't possible for you, I hope that at least you were able to make the most of your time during what I am sure was a much-need break from the grind if nothing else. I noticed that some of you placed items in the Holiday Bazaar. I hope that worked out well for you. A little extra jingle in your pocket (even if it is only just a little) is always a good thing.
We are truly down to the wire now. We have only tomorrow's class and Monday's class (which will be simple and fun, I assure you) before you turn in your portfolios on Wednesday, December 9. THAT'S IT! Where has the semester gone? Doesn't it seem like just yesterday you were staring at white boxes, spheres, cones, and cylinders, trying to figure out how the hell this linear perspective stuff works, and having nightmares of ellipses in your sleep? Compare what you are accomplishing now to what you were doing then. I should hope that you feel your work is far more confident now. And hopefully you see why it was important to START there before moving on to more advanced drawings rather than diving straight in without any scuba gear.
So, then, allow me to give you a few quick reminders here so you can be ready for what's coming up:
1. Don't forget that tomorrow is the final day to turn in any assignments you have reworked for the possibility of a better grade. I will accept any reworked assignment from any point in the semester, but I will NOT accept late drawings that weren't turned in on the date they were originally due. I don't have the time nor patience to grade, in addition to the reworked assignments, a bunch of drawings that were due weeks ago that you never turned in. This isn't make-up time. This is a final-shot chance to improve your grade through good, honest hard work. I will have them graded and returned to you on Monday so you can add them to your portfolio.
2. Make sure to have your Bristol, 4H drawing pencil, and M- and F-tip BLACK ink pens tomorrow ready to go. Bring along a second sheet of Bristol if you think you may finish your first drawing early. PLEASE DO NOT RAID THE STORE RIGHT BEFORE CLASS. That didn't work out so well the last time. I don't want class held up again, especially since this will be the last time we work on a REAL assignment in class. Come unprepared, and I will request that you just leave the classroom and not waste our time.
3. Don't forget that tomorrow is "Bring Your Own Music Day" for everyone whose last name begins with P-W. Yesterday was an interesting experience, and I look forward to hearing what the rest of you have to offer. Just bring a burned CD of 4-5 songs or, if you have an MP3 player and a cord that will connect it to my radio's auxiliary jack, you can make a short playlist.
4. Here is what you need to do in preparation for December 9:
Don't wait until the night before!
Build your portfolio: Before you do anything else, gather all your work and make sure that everything is fixed and will therefore not get smudged. Place everything you have done in this class (both in-class assignments and homework) in chronological order into your portfolio. On the outside of your portfolio HAVE YOUR NAME PROMINENTLY DISPLAYED.
Prepare your sketchbook: Make sure that YOUR NAME IS PROMINENTLY DISPLAYED ON YOUR SKETCHBOOK. I had a few at midterm that I had to guess by a process of elimination. You wouldn't want me to accidentally put your grade down by someone else's name, would you? Make sure that your syllabus and any handouts, articles, or research given to you or obtained on your own are in that pocket in the back. Hopefully your sketchbook is already in very good shape right now, but if you are one of those last-minute procrastinators, you have a week to make it look like you DIDN'T procrastinate until the last minute. Remember everything I wrote in your sketchbook at midterm and everything I said to you at the last sketchbook review (which was disappointing on the whole, with a few exceptions--you know who you are) and make sure it is well-designed, shows your progress and research, and is reflective of anentire semester's worth of diligent WORK.
Submit your final portfolio and sketchbook: You have until 4:50 PM on December 9 to bring your portfolio and sketchbook to the studio. After 4:50 PM I will lock the door and accept nothing later. There will be designated areas to place each item. Simply place your portfolio and sketchbook in their areas and you will be free to go. Return at 7:30 PM to pick everything up again (I know I originally told you 6:30, but I want to make sure I have enough time to grade everything and for taking photographs). Inside your sketchbook I will write a sketchbook grade. This grade is for the sketchbook only and is not necessarily reflective of your final grade for the course, which will be averaged together just as I outlined in your syllabus and submitted to the dean. You will receive all of your final grades at some point over the winter break.
5. Speaking of grades: Some of you have forgotten to post an evaluation of yourself and the course on your blog. Remember, that was part of your assignment over Thanksgiving break. Get that up there. Also, if you like, you can feel free to include in your evaluation the grade you feel you honestly deserve.
And that's all, folks! We are so near the end of the semester I can hear it squeak. (I don't know, it's something I used to hear oldtimers say and I always found it funny.) See you tomorrow.
Jenny Saville is a personal favorite of mine. Her work is very much concerned with the ways in which women--particularly plus-sized women--view their bodies and, as a result, their self-worth. She has an uncanny ability to capture flesh in paint that rivals that of the great masters of old.
Claes Oldenburg (Drawings)
You may know Claes Oldenburg already as the famous Pop-era craftsman of large-scale sculptures of everyday items constructed out of soft materials. What you may be less familiar with are his drawings, which are superb. This man was a master draftsman whose drawings (most of which were illustrations accompanying proposals for sculptures) are deceptively simple.
Chuck Close
Chuck close was an early pioneer of the Photorealism movement. After a tragic accident in the early 80s which left him mostly paralyzed, his attention shifted to large scale portraits that focus on the use of the grid and take advantage of the limited motion he has in his hand. All of his work, even to this day, is mainly concerned with the ways in which photography, though perceived as a reproduction of "reality," are actually a means of abstraction.
Fernando Bryce
Fernando Bryce is a Brazilian artist whose small-scale drawings are all based on photographs, pamphlets, newspapers, and magazines from by-gone eras. Through his particular process of translating these images into ink drawings, Bryce attempts to bring to the forefront the issues of racism, nationalism, and political division that plagued the world in the past and still do in the present.
Eric Fischl
Eric Fischl is an interesting guy. His paintings are enigmatic. His subject, for the most part, seems to be white, suburban, middle-class Americans doing things in private that they would never admit to in public. I've never actually read an artist's statement by Fischl, so I'm not entirely certain what his goal is with these paintings, but their sense of humor and moral ambiguities fascinate me.
