If the heart-shaped leaves of the philodendron were outlined more clearly, we might be moved to pat the artist gently on the back and congratulate her on having such good dexterity and a love of botany and in general being a good girl. But we wouldn’t spend any time really enjoying the drawing.
This drawing by Alejanda holds our attention because it takes us in and out of clarity. Now you see the leaf, now you don’t. Now you’re rational, now you’re free-associating. Here you know where you are, here you don’t. It’s a trip, as people used to say. But instead of feeling fooled, oddly enough, you feel that the work is truthful: this is how it is with the mind, it goes in and out of focus.
It takes courage to work like this, with the wisdom of ambiguity.
The artist/student used the Schwan Aquarellable pencil on gloss paper and a plain old damp paper towel for the smudging effects.
A second drawing from the same motif followed, this one done in china marker. Even though this medium was used without any smudging technique, the artist again plays on forms with a love of ambiguity.
Two fine drawings in one class period.
All contents copyright (C) 2010 Katherine Hilden. All rights reserved.
artamaze by Katherine Hilden 