So Nice to See You, A Performance Drawing, 3 hours, 2011
Photo by Justin Bean
A review of Out In Out, at MBN Studios, Philadelphia PA Written by Jenna Buckingham. Below are insights from some of the participants in the exhibition “Out In Out”:- Drawing is the deliberate placement of risk on a surface. At best, a drawing’s final form will provide evidence of abandon rather than the constraint of original purpose. Ana Maria Gomez Lopez on her piece “Wood cuts”-For this piece, I used props of the MBN plus a couple other personal items that I felt had an affinity to the space. Site specificity led to specific drawings, completed through multiple visits to the space. Adam Lovitz on his installation drawing-Image has the power to define or deny anyone. Jannalyn Bailey on her piece “Panty Series”-I am thinking and breathing, thoughtful and sensitive for not only my own feelings, but others as well. I have “energy, personality, mind, spirit, and soul” just like any other, but without interaction, I could become just an image; or worse, a mere decoration. Sarah Peoples on her piece “So Nice to See You”. To make an entire drawing is to tell the story of oneself. No marks or movements are concealed, and the connection is direct. The artist’s energy comes out onto the artwork and flows directly through to the audience or viewer. Drawing is the process, rather than the product of mark-making. A finished work of art is the evidence of the act of drawing. When you make a drawing, you are moving purposely through space, interacting with other things, and making decisions. Curators Michael Moore and Paul Hamanaka have opposing, yet curiously harmonious ideas for the meaning of drawing. Moore, graduate drawing instructor and post-baccalaureate critic at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, believes that drawing is a deliberate, physical-visual expression of ones inner thoughts and feelings. Drawing is a physical opportunity to share personal narratives and create something meaningful; when the artist allows himself to be open, experience comes through in an immediate, powerful way. Moore’s interpretation of drawing, which he came to describe as “Out In Out”, the title of the exhibition, has to do with the ability of the artist to communicate his experience of the world through drawing.