As a resource that you can return to over and over again the city art
gallery is amazing and it’s easy to forget how good it is. I popped in to have
a good look at the Gego exhibition in the Henry Moore Institute, (See earlier post) and as the exhibition goes on over the bridge
into the City Art Gallery I came across the ‘Narrative Objects’ display. As you
might guess from my interest in narrative and allegorical approaches to drawing
I was fascinated to see how the theme would be curated.
One thing about sculptors’ drawings is that they are often focused on
what might be. They are visualisations that like all narratives give you a
picture of an idea. In order to build the idea sculptors often rely on certain
visual conventions that enable solid 3D visualisations, these are often
perspective or technical drawing systems.
See drawing exercises ‘Technical Approaches’ as a reminder of different approaches to technical
drawing.
The show has quite a few sculptors’ drawings on
display and the various approaches were fascinating. Downstairs in the basement
there are some interesting juxtapositions. Three Carl Plackman drawings are
hung on the left hand wall and a Rick Oginz on the back wall under the stairs. Both rely on clear technical drawing
conventions to organise their imagery. Plackman uses a basic perspective, look
close and you will see his rubbed out pencil perspective grids, each object
locked into a coherent space that is built from 2 point perspective. He uses a
viewpoint that looks down on the events, one that is very similar to drawing a
stage and because of this the images look like props set out on a stage, his
sculptures being as much installations as sculptures, this method of drawing
highlights the importance of the overall spatial understanding of the
relationships between objects. He tends to start with pencil, using sharp
measured lines as a base and then on some drawings goes on to ‘paint’ in
acrylic, developing the dark/light shadows that will give even more conviction
to the objects and how they inhabit the stage like space. Plackman is sensitive
to the marks made within his drawings and adjusts them as he feels for their
position in space, as he does this he overcomes the technical ‘feel’ of the
chosen perspective and gives the drawings their ‘Plackman’ signature. In contrast Oginz, who is also visualizing a
sculptural/installation type situation is much more technical. He uses a
perspective projection as a clarifier for his 3D forms (actually it’s a sort of
cross between perspective and axonometric drawing) and by using technical
drawing pens visualises the situation in a much more cool way than the
personalized private language that Plackman uses.
Above: Carl Plackman
Rick Oginz
However if you then compare Plackman with
Martin Naylor’s 2D images, (there is one in the centre of the basement space,
attached to one of the pillars, called ‘Between 2 mad dogs’.) you will see that
Plackman is actually quite restrained, Naylor’s much more expressive drawings
also going into print, which is a sign that he sees his drawings as a language
in their own right and not necessarily as visualisations for potential future
sculptures. He embosses a chair in one print and surrounds it by energy marks,
in an attempt the describe not just an object, but the type of space it sits
in.
I don't have an illustration of the ‘Between 2 mad dogs’ image but the two images below of Naylor's work will perhaps give an idea of his range of approaches, as you can see he is just as interested in 3D as 2D solutions to problems. Naylor is quite well represented in the City Art Gallery collection and is an interesting artist to research.
Martin Naylor
There are also more conceptual approaches to drawing
in the show. Simon Patterson, probably most famous for his ‘Great Bear’ print,
continues exploring systems of classification, this time using old mariners’
charts and maps but mixing in texts taken from contemporary situations.
Simon Patterson
Back up the stairs, Sol Lewitt has a small
piece, ‘Schematic Drawing for Muybridge’ on the ground floor landing and his
tiny images ask us questions about voyeurism, and also at the same time
question where the boundaries are between drawing and photography. As drawing
students it is perhaps always going to be useful to push at the edges and
question the boundaries between disciplines, in particular print and collage
are both areas that seem to flow seamlessly in and out of the drawing
canon. Lewitt's piece can also be seen as a type of artist's book, another area really worth exploring, especially as the College has a very good collection of artists' books down in the Vernon Street Library.
Sol Lewitt: ‘Schematic Drawing for Muybridge’
Helen Chadwick’s ‘Documentation of the Kitchen’ is
perhaps the best illustration of someone working right on that edge between
disciplines. (This work is also on the ground floor landing) Chadwick’s
photographs are a series of stills that document a performance. However the
linear framework she is working with is clearly a 3D drawing and the flexible
harness she uses can also be seen as an organic counter to the geometric metal
frame. The flat photographs taken from a very frontal angle emphasise the 2D
feel of the piece, each ‘frame’ can be read as 3D drawing, as a photographic
document or as a record of a sculptural performance.
Helen Chadwick
All of these artists are in one way or another
trying to ‘narrate’ an idea and in order to do this they rely on different
conventions. Try and think about your own ‘story’ and how you have tried to
visualize it in the past. Can you use any of the methods suggested by these
artists to help you further your ideas? Are there any other sculptor’s drawings
that you think might be used as
signposts towards possible ways of visualising ideas? Edward Allington, Anthony
Gormley and of course Moore and Hepworth are all well represented in the City
Art Gallery and all have made significant bodies of drawing that are well worth
studying.
Edward Allington
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