Size Does Matter

From playful scribbles to methodical line the drawing becomes so much more than the subsidiary product of painting or design. So often seen as the foundation for visual art and yet rarely seen as an end unto itself. Through obsessive line, compulsive repetition and methodical attention to detail; curator Larry Walczak offers a glimpse of current and historical meditations drawing.

Each of the artists in this group exhibition tackles the methods of rendering through a range of strategies. Joan Linder's illustrative drawings of Sports Utility Vehicles and a huge "Red Rocket" scratched out with red ink on a giant sheet of paper adds some levity to balance out the intensity of the dominant abstractions that abound. Artist Lori Ellison's patchwork installation of paper sheets, at first appear as a blur of blue pattern, but upon closer inspection the overall surface is composed of the words "Love Love Love Love…" written in a tiny girlish cursive so many times that the words appear detached from any emotive reality, as if the author was transfixed in the doodles of some co-dependant adolescent obsession. Opposite this work is a pair of drawings by Amy Kao, who uses carbon transfer paper to build up a microscopic field of delicate patterns reminiscent of organic structures. Kao's surface and resulting atmosphere are perhaps most compelling because the resulting experience is both dependant and distinct from the physical process. In addition to the more delicate or goofy pattern and line which abound, artist, Il Lee draws out a dark sculptural form. With un-ending layers of black line, crosshatched and scrawled over and over with a simple ballpoint pen, the surface soaks up the light and allows the strong resulting shape to have a presence reminiscent of the heavy forms typical of sculptor Richerd Serra.

Each of these artists has something to offer and the juxtaposition of the work in this exhibition is some times jarring, other times amusing and yet in each moment, in each captured rendering there is something wonderful happening here, something easily overlooked. Take the time to see it in the subtle space of a drawing.

Lori Ellison
Untitled Drawing Installation (detail image), 1996-2004
Blue Fountain Pen on paper
120 x 70

This review was written for the Gay City News, New York City

Exhibition Information

Size Does Matter
Curated by Larry Walczak of Eyewash
Artists: David Brody, Laura Bruce, Lori Ellison,
Amy Kao, Il Lee, Joan Linder

Gallery Boreas
133-A Roebling Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY
11211
718-384-3562
www.galleryboreas.com