The Anxious Drawing

The word “drawing” brings up a sense of anxiety to some people. Mostly because they fear they can’t draw. But what if the purpose of the drawing is to express anxiety? Drawing has the ability to go far beyond the representation of things. Learning how to draw objects so that they are recognizable is exciting and satisfying. But that is not the only thing you can do with drawing. Drawing can be used as way to reveal human feelings and a range of emotions. Drawing as expression can transcend language. Drawings can be awkward, messy, imperfect and still be really good drawings. The drawings of Rashid Johnson (1977-) began as representations of figures but developed into expressions of a vital and raw anxious energy. Johnson even titles some of his works, Untitled Anxious Drawings, leaving the viewer no doubt about his main subject.

Rashid Johnson, Untitled Anxious Audience, 2018 White ceramic tile, black soap, wax73.0 x 94.5 x 3.0″

In 2015 Rashid Johnson began his “Anxious” series by making singular portrait drawings called Untitled Anxious Man and then the portraits became grouped and called Untitled Anxious Audience (image above) and then just Untitled Anxious Drawing (see below). The first drawings were made using melted black soap and wax, materials used by the black diaspora in their everyday life for cleaning and grooming. Johnson enjoyed the idea of soap as a material associated with cleansing, as well as the irony of the soap being black and related to dirt, or things that are considered unclean. Lines are scratched into the soap and wax with a sharp tool creating a graffiti-like appearance on the tiled surface. The use of ceramic tiles references a place of refuge for Johnson, the Russian and Turkish Bathhouse in New York. Your first thoughts when looking at the above drawing might be to think it is messy, childlike, violent, even visually unattractive. And yet as human beings we have all felt something like the emotions that this piece conveys: anger, frustration, confusion and excitement. Johnson wants you to get past what you see and to think about what these drawings make you feel.

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This work from the Untitled Anxious Drawing, 2018 series is oil on cotton rag (paper).

The Anxious Drawings began to take on a more abstract, almost cartoon-like feel and yet we can still recognize the vestiges of a human face. Johnson describes his drawings as being “representative of many personal and collective anxieties: becoming a father, inequality and racism, and an collective sense of uncertainty in the world.”

Untitled Anxious Red Drawings 2020, oil stick on paper

During the pandemic, Johnson began using the colour red to depict a sense of urgency and the faces started to dissolve even more into the material. In this CNN article Anxiety is part of my life (which includes a short video), Johnson discusses what it was like to make art during the pandemic. He describes the period as “‘an incredibly difficult time. It feels simultaneously unsettling, urgent, and radical.’” The Anxious Drawings always start with a random light scribble that covers the surface, almost done as a way to release the first burst of anxiety prior to getting further into the subject of the drawings.

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Rashid Johnson Bruise Painting “Body and Soul”, 2021 oil on linen 96 x 158 x x 2″

Johnson’s recent work was part of an exhibition called “Black and Blue”, a title that has multiple meanings from a “bruise” to being a black person who is feeling blue such as in the song of this title a by Louis Armstrong.

From the David Kornasky Gallery press release:

Johnson’s drawings contain vocabulary that is abstract, the representational, and conceptual, challenging the notion that these can be understood as separate categories. The grids of faces embody, on the one hand, the freneticism of intense psychological response; on the other, though, they reveal roots in non-objective minimalism. As such, they are vehicles for both internally and externally oriented modes of awareness.

For more information and a video of Johnson talking about this work: Black and Blue. The artist’s CV as well as several articles on Johnson can be found on this page: Further Reading

These works that blur the lines between drawing and painting are often made without a brush, the marks are made mostly with the artist’s fingers drawing directly on the canvas or paper surface. The works are frenetic and calm. The wild gestures contained within the grid contrast freedom and containment. The lines between anxious mark-making and energetic excitement become completely blurred. These intimate and expressive works investigate the anxiety of the individual and the collective.

For additional viewing:
Rashid Johnson CNN Interview
Rashid Johnson on Success and Healing
Rashid Johnson Soldade
Rashid Johnson Artist Talk

Where will art take you?

Did you know that our brain flourishes when we take on tasks where the end results are unknown? Whether this involves an unexpected conversation, a game with several players or making art, these activities help the brain and memory work better. Often artists have an idea on how a particular work might turn out, but what they cannot predict is the trajectory their art practice will take. It is impossible to know what thing you might see or what experience might happen that will change your art.

Brice Marden, an American painter who passed away on August 10, 2023 was known mostly known for his calligraphic paintings that are in-between drawing and painting. However that is not how he started his art career. Initially he was viewed as a minimalist painter who did monochromes and geometric abstraction. Like many artists, Marden’s work took a few different and sometimes unexpected trajectories.

Grove Group III, 1973, oil on canvas

Early in his career Marden was considered an abstract minimalist painter. He never considered his work completely abstract, nor necessarily minimalist. The above painting from the “Grove Group” series was inspired by the colours of an olive tree grove he saw in Italy in 1971. The series consists of five paintings and together the colours conjure sea and sky, slate and trees. The paintings are all 6 x 9′ and the rectangular canvas in each painting is divided up in different ways -either vertical (as seen above) to suggest trees or horizontal to suggest landscapes such as the sea and sky.

Marden on his inspiration: Grove Group

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Hydra Group IV, Hydra Group V; Hydra Group VI; Hydra Group IX (Four Works)
1979, oil and graphite on Japanese clay-coated paper, 20.5″ x 19.5″

Marden also became interested in Greek architecture and antiquities in the 1970s and made several series of works based on this including the Hydra Group (above). Using concepts around minimalism and the grid, the Hydra Group is inspired by the basic post and lintel form of architecture often used in Greek temples.

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His interest in architecture continued into the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1978 he was asked to submit a design proposal for the cathedral windows in Basel. The drawing above is one of his proposed designs.

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Second Window Painting, 1983

While Marden’s cathedral windows design was not accepted, his proposal process resulted in a new direction for his work. This direction included a shift from monochromatic neutral toned paintings to works that included a range of brighter colours and the use of drawing lines in his paintings. Many paintings and drawings were developed from this “window series”.

Window Study # 3, 1985, oil and graphite on canvas, 24 x 18″

Red Drawing #1, 1984. Oil, ink, gouache and graphite on paper, 12 x 12 “

These window studies developed into abstract grid drawings with straight edges created by using masking tape. These geometric lines were contrasted with free-hand brush lines, paint drips and splatters. Expressionistic mark making was introduced to his more formal approach to geometry.

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Cold Mountain Drawing (Forms), 1990, ink on paper, 22 x 28″

In the 1980s Marden made a trip to Japan and became fascinated with Japanese calligraphy and saw it as a form of drawing. He was not only interested in the marks but also the structure of how the words appeared on the paper, often in a grid-like formation. The above work is is part of Marden’s Cold Mountain series and it was his first venture into the signature style of drawings and paintings with undulating lines that he is known for today. This series was inspired by a collection of poetry attributed to Chinese poet Hanshan (Cold Mountain), who authored his texts during the 9th-century Tang Dynasty. It is interesting to note, that while Marden was looking at traditional calligraphy to inspire his work, 21st century contemporary Japanese calligraphers were influenced by Marden’s work and developed a new style based on a more free and gestural approach. This fascinating lecture Brice Marden Lines and Spaces, discusses the cross-cultural relationship between traditional and contemporary Japanese calligraphy.

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Cold Mountain 3, 1989/91, oil on canvas

The Cold Mountain drawings developed into paintings. The drawings were done with a long stick and ink, however with the paintings, Marden wanted more control so he used a brush. Like calligraphy, his drawings were done as one-off mark making sessions. However his paintings always consisted of many layers of erasures and additions, sometimes taking a few years before Marden felt they were complete. He was interested in the pentimento or trace of the history of the process from start to finish. This linear approach to painting is something that stayed Marden for the rest of his life.

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Nevis Night Drawings, 2018, Kremer inks on Arches paper, 30 x 20″

Rowdy, 2013-2021, oil, graphite, chalk on linen, 96 x 72″

In Marden’s later works a deliberate reworking of the lines is juxtaposed with a more gestural approach to painting, letting the drips and messiness of the paint reveal itself as part of the process. You can see by the date of the painting Rowdy (2013-2021), that Marden is reworking the surface of previously made paintings and letting that history come through to the final surface. Throughout his art practice, Marden battled with the square format because he thought it was too perfect. He said nobody can make a square painting after Malevich’s Black Square. And yet, he was drawn to the form because of its perfection. His solution throughout many series of works was to put a square into a rectangular format, giving the work a geometric order that counteracts with the messiness of the dissolving linear forms.

I love studying the life work of an artist because it brings to light all the different directions an artist’s mind can go. Looking at the very first geometric abstract image of this essay, you can see some of the similarities to his later work, but it is unlikely Marden would have been able to imagine the direction his work would take over his lifetime.

The main thing is to always keep working (whether or not you are inspired to do so) and to observe the world around you, sketch, photograph, look at other art, read, take notes, and keep repeating that all over again. You too will be surprised where you might end up in a few years from now. The journey of an art practice is too much of an adventure to pass up. Keep working to find out where art will take you.

Sometimes less is better

We live in a society where “more” is constantly encouraged. More money, more things, more food, more drink, more travel, more experiences, more friends. We also live in a time where the need to buy less, travel less and do less is becoming more and more evident. This constant need for “more” is bringing us down on an environmental, economical and spiritual level The new year is a perfect time to think of how we can incorporate more of “less” into our lives. I often tell students that it takes more courage to do an art work that has less in it. People sometimes scoff at minimalist work because they think it looks easy. It isn’t. Mark Twain once apologized to a friend for writing a long letter, saying that he “didn’t have time to write a short one”. When I’m involved in the editing process of writing, my first goal is to take out all the unnecessary items. It is surprising how we can fill our writing and our work with a lot of extraneous material that would not be missed if deleted or left out.

Paul Cézanne: Almond Trees in Provence 1990

I’ve always admired Cezanne’s watercolours, sometimes more so than his canonical oil paintings. In the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century watercolours were mostly categorized as “drawings” as they were considered to be studies for larger paintings. Cezanne considered his watercolours to be finished works. I am amazed at his ability to leave so much out. Anyone who has used watercolour knows that this light touch is hard to achieve. The empty space in Almond Trees in Provence (above) makes us pay more attention to the small amount of detail that is there. Leaving so much of the paper’s surface as an integral part of the composition, is an act of courage.

Paul Cézanne In the Woods, 1900

The painting of the forest above is an example of how the repetition of abstracted shapes and lines gives the effect of a complex forest. The simplicity of this work, allows the viewer to trace each of the singular brushmarks made by Cezanne throughout the construction of this painting. There is a beautiful purity in the use of transparent watercolour; every shape and mark made can be seen. Nothing is hidden by layers of overpainting as is often the case with oil painting. The work is deceptively simple. As with most of his watercolours, the above painting reveals a complex transition and layering of space leaving the colour of the paper to exist as foreground, middle ground and background.

Paul Cézanne, Rocks near the Caves above Château Noir, 1895-1900

Cezanne’s painting of rocks done at the end of the 19th century, is as fresh as if it was done today. The drawing appears to be a merging of a scientific study with a rough sketch. For Cezanne this is as close to an exact representation of how he sees as he can get. The more you look at it, the more you see Cezanne’s attention to detail: when drawing, he is totally focused on paying attention to how he sees as much as what he sees. This work is both representational and abstract and is indicative of Cezanne’s unique way of seeing forms in nature. Again, what is not drawn or painted is as powerful as the rest of the forms.

Paul Cézanne Still Life with Carafe, Bottle, and Fruit, 1906.

Cezanne’s Still Life with Carafe, Bottle and Fruit is another example of how the untouched paper can play a variety of roles in the composition: it is the foreground and the background and it is also the space in and around the objects. The “empty” paper creates a sense of three-dimensional space while paradoxically flattening the picture plane by framing the composition. This is representation verging on abstraction. The tentative lines become a simple way to capture the changing light moving over an object. These seemingly hesitant lines are anything but. These lines are confident and deliberate. Cezanne knew it was impossible to paint nature from one point of view because that is not how our vision works. The short, quick, nervous line-work captures the fluctuating way our eyes and brain perceive objects before us.

Paul Cézanne Bathers circa 1890

I always smile when people say that they can’t take an art course because they can only draw “stick figures”. If they can do that, then they are already on the the way to understanding how little you need to represent a figure. According to Wikipedia, “[t]he stick figure is a universally recognizable symbol, in all likelihood one of the most well known in the world. It transcends language, location, demographics, and can trace back its roots for almost 30,000 years”. Cezanne’s dynamic human forms, while being a far cry from “stick figures”, are also created with a series of lines. The repetition of short lines throughout enhances the overall sense of movement and activity. The painted negative shapes help transform the linear elements into three-dimensional form.

An exhibition of Cezanne’s painting is on at the Tate Modern until March 2023. I did contemplate travelling to London to see this, but in the spirit of doing less, I decided against it. Instead I will spend more time looking at reproductions of Cezanne’s drawings and attempt to understand how is it possible to make a drawing that contains so little.

A video showing some close-up views of Cezanne’s drawings and watercolours can be viewed here: Cezanne’s Drawings at MoMA. A panel of artists (including Julie Mehretu) discussing the Cezanne exhibition at MoMA is an excellent way to learn more about how his drawings are as alive today as they were over 100 years ago: Virtual Views: Cezanne’s Drawings.

A lot of us find ourselves with a need to cut back on spending as the year 2023 is bringing with it more economic uncertainty. Studying art through books and reproductions and making art can provide some of the excitement travel offers, but without the expense. I’m not saying that reproductions can replace travel since nothing compares with seeing original works of art and the excitement of being in a new place. However art making provides a stimulation to the mind and soul, as well as an opportunity for self discovery and reflection. These are also amongst the many things people seek through travel.

While taking an art course might seem expensive at the outset, courses at VISA work out to $13.75/hour. A well-loved former VISA instructor, Xane St Phillip, always told students that art courses, even after factoring in the cost of supplies, are a much more economical option than psychological counselling at $200/hour. An art course or workshop will open your mind up to new ways of seeing the world and will also reveal to you what you can do when your hands, eyes and mind work together to create something that never existed before. If you are one of those that hesitate to take an art course because you can only draw stick figures, I’m here to tell you they are just a combination of lines. If you can make lines, you can draw.

An excellent example of stick figures from pre-historic times

Wendy Welch
Executive Director, VISA

Why we need art

It’s not breaking news to say we are living in difficult times. There is a lot to process: an uncertain economy, the devastating effects of climate change, divisive politics, war in Ukraine, executions in Iran, a housing shortage, homelessness, drug addiction, the lingering pandemic, to name a few. Many would think that in times like these art is irrelevant and unnecessary. Food and shelter are the basic needs of all humans and a healthy environment is essential for the longevity of the planet.

But as humans we need more. Our love of art is what makes us unique as a species. Art of some form has always helped us through dark times.

Caspar David Friedrich

Art opens our minds to the world of the imagination. Art offers us a space to reflect and consider what it means to be human and how we have the ability to go beyond the everyday reality through the use of our imagination. This iconic painting by the German painter Caspar David Friedrich draws attention to our desire to contemplate the great unknown. Many contemporary painters have been inspired by Freidrich and his use of nature to represent man’s ability to reflect beyond the confines of his own ego. The figure in this painting is looking out into nature and contemplating the immensity of the world beyond himself. As a young person this painting gave me great solace in that it allowed me to realize that being alone is a natural state and one can be alone without feeling lonely. Often in these states of solitude or disconnectedness, our imagination is our greatest solace.

April Gornik

April Gornik is a contemporary artist whose practice is inspired by Friedrich in that her work goes beyond revealing the beauty of nature and into expressing the immensity of the world outside of ourselves. Gornik’s paintings are often based on several images that she integrates together to create a dramatic and often other worldly viewpoint. On first glance her monumental landscapes appear to be a reflection of nature as it is, but with deeper reflection on the work, things aren’t as straightforward as they appear. The viewer’s position is uncertain. Are we in the clouds? On a mountain peak? Art makes us shift our perspective so we learn that things might not be as they appear at first glance. We learn to combine our visual perceptions with our imaginative speculations to create a fascinating interpretation of reality.

Shara Hughes

Shara Hughes’ landscapes are vaguely based on memory, but come almost entirely from her own imagination. Her works show a freedom not to be confined by the tyranny of reality. While she follows the convention of Renaissance perspective in her work, everything in her work is made- up. She uses the colours to create an other-worldly effect so while we can recognize forms such as tree trunks and branches, little else reminds us of the world as we know it. These are the landscapes of fairy tales, dreams and a vivid imaginary world.

Peter Doig

Peter Doig’s landscapes are also familiar and unfamiliar. Another thing that art does is it makes us see the world differently. Often when I am walking out at night and there is a clear indigo sky against a backdrop of trees, I am reminded of a Peter Doig landscape. While Doig’s source material is often based on film stills and photographs, he adds his own sense of the magical to the images he produces. His work draws attention to the everyday sense of magic we might see when we look at nature.

We need art more than ever in today’s world. I understand there are many urgent needs that are more important than art. During difficult times the arts sector is the first to experience dramatic budget cuts. People ask “how can we support the arts when people need to food to eat and a place to live?”

This is not an either or situation. I would like to suggest that humans have a innate ability to hold more than one thought at the same time. As a community we can support those that require their basic needs met and we can also support the arts. As a community we need to support both the body and the soul of people who live here.

Wendy Welch
Executive Director

Is change bad or good?

Some of us love change. Others hate it. Change is neither good nor bad. We have no choice but to learn to live with it. No matter the changes each of us go through in life, there is an essential part of us that remains the same. Part of our personality and memory change, based on life experiences and the people we know, but our DNA is constant. I find it fascinating to think about the part of ourselves that stays with us no matter what goes on in the external world.

I’ve always been interested in artists who change the genre or style of their work, but maintain their personal artistic sensibility through the transition. Two of my favourite artists provide excellent examples: Sarah Sze and Judy Pfaff. These artists use installation art as their main form of art practice, and both studied painting at the post-secondary level.

Recently their work has made a shift to becoming “wallworks” based on painting and collage.

Sarah Sze

Recently Sarah Sze has been making large-scale complex layered collage paintings, often referred to as “wall works”. These sometimes include torn up photographs of her previous works. Despite being two-dimensional in form, they capture the intricate details seen in her installations as well as the variations of scale. Sze made the transition to these wallworks during Covid. This is an example of change because of a necessity (the inability to build installations in gallery spaces). But these works also demonstrate how enforced changes can bring us to a direction we never imagined possible. To learn more about Sze’s process and her recent shift in approach: Virtual Studio Visit Sarah Sze.

Sarah Sze

Judy Pfaff

Judy Pfaff

Another artist who made a shift from installation to wallworks is Judy Pfaff who precedes Sze by a few decades. Seeing Pfaff’s work in Los Angeles in 1989, was the first time I ever experienced “installation art”. I was amazed by the boldness and exuberance of her work. I remember thinking that I had no idea such a thing was possible in art. Like Sze, Pfaff was trained as a painter so her installations, especially the early ones as seen as above, reference the language of painting in that the wall becomes a stand-in for the rectangle of the painting format. More recently, Pfaff has been making small-scale assemblages (three-dimensional collages) that are framed and contained behind glass. These small works seem to carry a similar intensity to her large scale collages.

Many times an artist friend invites me to look at the “completely new” series they have been working on, only for me to discover that it is not as different as they imagine. Sometimes an artist thinks they have taken a drastic turn in their approach, but it often still carries the same sensibility and ends up being more of a shift in style than a completely new way of working. When I survey the expanse of work I have done over the years, I love tracing the threads of continuity that exist despite the changes of style, format and materials.

As all of us are experiencing so much change these days, whether it be related to the climate, the economy, politics, pandemics or personal situations. It is important to hold on to the things that make you who you are. Always try and remember the things that give you pleasure and joy. Often they are the same things that gave you this sensation when you were a child. This is what will get us through living in a world that is in state of precarious flux.

Keith Haring said “To be a victim of change is to ignore its existence.” To read more about Keith Haring’s and other views on change and creativity, I highly recommend reading this post on The Marginalia.

Wendy Welch