Drawing Obsessions
Curated by Jason Paradis
Museum of Contemporary Art Long Island (MoCA LI)
March 9 - April 14, 2019
Curator Talk: March 9, 4:30 pm
Artist Reception: March 9, 5 - 7 pm
Drawing Obsessions explores and questions the driving factors that artists use to create their work. Many would see these tendencies and consider them to be obsessive. Artists, however, may feel that it is simply what drives them to create; an inspiration worth returning to. This exhibition looks into those driving factors and tries to reveal the impetus and mechanisms which allow artists to visualize in the way they do.
David Ferris is captivated by the typographical, exploring the design and construct of some of our most basic, foundational shapes. The letters of the alphabet symbolize communication. By obsessively reimagining their formal quality, in both drawing and sculpture, he improvises the figures that we normally take for granted.
Calligraphic line is also an obsession for Marjorie Van Cura. Using photographs of landscapes, fraught with damage from natural disasters or seemingly disordered construction sites, she builds up linear contours of the disarray on translucent film. She then repeatedly traces the result to create complex visual fields of pattern.
Line repetition is part of the process for Mark Kremer, although instead of overlapping and retracing, he explores the process of mark-making through human limitations. The visual form of his artwork is dictated by self-imposed rules that the maker must follow. Starting with a simple diagonal, his obsessive lines emanate outward, never crossing, to test the precision, stamina, and fallibility of the body.
Emily Noelle Lambert approaches her work with vitality. Energetically covering her surfaces, she continuously reworks the imagery with color, shapes, and line. The obsessive need to experiment mirrors an ever-changing environment. Her restless reconfigurations evoke a constant questioning although ultimately display confidence and control.
Cal Fish uses art to mediate social constructs and contemplate the relationship between public spaces, ecology, and empathy. Immersing himself in the community of Kingston, NY, he listened intently to residents, their stories, and concerns about the environment. He obsessively documented these interactions with recordings, performances, and mixed-media drawings.
The mythology surrounding place is an obsession for Michelle Mackey. An abandoned gas station in Dallas, TX infatuated the artist as she returned to it hundreds of times. In fact, it was the rendezvous for the notorious outlaw couple Bonnie and Clyde. Although nothing remained to reveal its identity, she studied the ruin, and tried to uncover something indicative to our broader cultural obsession with violence and legend.
Bryon Finn examines “site” as well, but as one who salvages recurring history. His collage-based relief drawings use many different techniques, natural and mechanical, to achieve a moment where recognition occurs. Observing his installation of 8 ½ by 11-inch sheets, one can see repeated subjects, altered states, and cancellations. The obsessiveness of his practice illuminates how an original motif can migrate to many permutations.
For more information: contact the Patchogue Arts Council at 631-627-8686
ABOUT MoCA LI and the PATCHOGUE ARTS COUNCIL – The Patchogue Arts Council, Inc., was formed to encourage, support, and promote the arts while aiding in the revitalization and sustainability of the community. The Patchogue Arts Council, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose focus is to serve the greater south shore of the Town of Brookhaven. The Patchogue Arts Council is located at 20 Terry St., Suite 116, Patchogue NY. For more information visit www.patchoguearts.org, call 631-627-8686, or email info@patchoguearts.org.