Wednesday 30 March 2011

The Drawing Video




The video, displayed during the exhibition in the foyer of Wimbledon Space, was
recorded over the two weeks of gallery based work leading up to the exhibition. It narrates the installation of The Drawing Archive on the wall: emails, photographs, receipts, books, catalogues, letters, statements, arguments, every detail nailed directly to the wall.
As a part of the exhibition making, it represents a key point in the process that led to the final installation, assembled right after The Drawing Archive had been removed from the walls.


Thursday 24 March 2011

the drawing at Wimbledon Space




WIMBLEDON space presents

the drawing.

Private View:
Thursday 24th March, 5 - 8pm

Exhibition:

Friday 25th March – Friday 8th April 2011
Monday to Friday 10am - 5pm
Closed Weekends and Bank Holidays


'the drawing.' opens at WIMBLEDON space, Wimbledon College of Art on Thursday 24th March. The show reveals the extensive efforts of four curators on a mission to purchase their first collectively owned artwork. Operating as 'The Drawing Collective', the four members have fully embraced the spirit of collaboration by eating, working and practically living together.  Like the first clue in a prolonged treasure hunt, the starting point given for the exhibition was “to reflect on Wimbledon College of Art’s focus on drawing and expanded notions of the archive.

Over the last five months, every attempt at coming closer to acquiring the elusive artwork, has been categorically recorded and filed. Hundreds of emails, photographs, receipts, books, catalogues, letters, statements, arguments, unfortunate and happy accidents, every detail.

Curators, artists, archivists, collectors, interviewers, managers, negotiators?

'the drawing.' An exhibition about exhibiting.


Wimbledon College of Art, Merton Hall Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 3QA wimbledonspace@wimbledon.arts.ac.uk
Telephone 020 7514 9705
TUBE Wimbledon/South Wimbledon • TRAIN Wimbledon/ Wimbledon Chase • TRAM Dundonald Road



Sunday 20 March 2011

What is a collective?

What is a collective? What does it mean to be a collective?
What constitutes it?
In contemporary western society, how possible is it to create a collective?
Why a collective and not some other model of collaboration?
The challenge that we created for ourselves, had in some way crept up upon us without even having realized it.
In the sense that we had not really asked ourselves the questions that are stated above.
There are two short texts that I wanted to write reflecting on the idea of the collective but in many ways I think this might be the right moment for this one.
Our collective was created without even realizing it, perhaps the most ideal and sincere way of creation.
Perhaps it was over the countless conversations between three of the members about the idea of creating a club where art could be discussed in a more comfortable environment. It may have been from this and the mutual affection that had grown between us, did the idea that we would like to create something more permanent, something beyond just a project occur. This is what made this project more than 'just' a project.
As a collective we tried to do almost everything possible together, which meant from spending time together in class, coffee breaks, lunches and gallery openings in the evening, which almost always finished off with a pint and heading home together. It wouldnt be presumptious to say that this project would probably not be as successful if we had not spent all this time together, experiencing things together and reflecting on how we experienced the same moments in different ways.


I hope that what we have to show will reflect that, because it was more of an experience than I thought we could ever have. I am sure that for those that will look hard enough it will and those who choose to skim the surface, will always be the ones that miss out.
Rarely does this happen. As far as I have seen most times when people try to work together, many things happen that end up ruining the experience and in the end the whole work itself. This time I think we managed to get through many different obstacles and have turned them around to our advantage.
I guess if i had to answer the question of why we are a collective and not some other model of collaborative work, my answer would be because regardless of all that had happened, what was always everyone's objective was working for the good of everyone and not for individual good. I guess that is what separated us from other models and I guess that is why we did not even think to question ourselves that, because it was so natural to us. I feel that I am very lucky and privileged to have an experience like this one, that I think rarely occurs in any form in contemporary society.
When I wonder why this is such a rare occurance, I guess the only answer I can come up with is that we have been taught to misunderstand the meaning of 'putting oneself first '. Luckily I have the pleasure of working people that understand this the way it is meant to be understood.


Manca Bajec



Space to Concept?

When being introduced to a space where a project is to take place, the first thing that happens is that imagination generally takes over and tries to fit the concept into the space even if the project is at its beginnings. Taking in the width, length, height, light in the space, just at first glance, as if taking a glimpse at a text without reading it, just to get the tone that creates the environment and opens the possibilities.

Wimbledon Space.

Our project had an element of performance in it, as it did continue to change and the amount of physical material that would be available for the actual exhibition changed throughout the project. It is still an ongoing performative act including the installation process.
This final solution for the exhibition was not the only possibility and while at first it seemed to be a compromise because many of the other ideas were more complex and time consuming, right now it seems to be the perfect way of us being able to carry out our concept to its optimum as it allows us to carry out another role that we had discussed already but we are finally able to truly take on.
The main idea for our exhibition installation was that it had to reflect the concept but not illustrate it, therefore while one of our most beloved ideas of recreating our working space as an installation in the gallery seemed to have all the elements of allowing our performance to continue throughout the exhibition while also leaving us with many options, it did somewhat just illustrate visually what the material we had accumulated, already does.
We realized that while we wanted to make it quite clear to the spectator what the whole project was about, one element that seemed so important was that we completed our process to the very end. That the concept of the exhibition at the end was the concept of the whole project and not just a representation of what we had done. Simply illustrating or representing the process would simply then be a form of documentation, which would in fact not be true to the idea that we had conceived.

A bundle of documentation, part of the drawing archive.

In the end, the exhibiting of documentation was not what we hoped to achieve, because in fact the documentation that had accumulated in the past months exhibited in a gallery space, would probably be more of an exhibition for ourselves than for anyone else. This leads to question whether the artist actually ever really does have an audience in mind when creating a work of art that will be exhibited?
Which also leads to question what it is in fact that we had done in the past months? Is it a performance? Is it an artistic project? Is it simply an experiment, that was documented for learning purposes or is it all of the above and more?
And more, is it even really necessary to have an answer for these questions and the many more that surround these ideas?
Our project was about value more than anything. It was about the value of time and the value of a person in relation to the value of an object even if this object is a work of art.
We wanted to see if we were actually able to with the input of our work able to raise the value of the drawing that we had set out to purchase. When discussing value, I am not only intending monetary value.
Almost at the complete beginning of the project we began realizing that in fact the drawing had little importance, it had more of a symbolic value, rather than being of actual importance. In the end, what is it that we wanted it to symbolize?
And the roles that we had ‘played’, did they symbolize anything other than the roles that they actually stood for?

Manca Bajec

Saturday 12 March 2011

On collecting: Walter Benjamin

Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector's passion borders on the chaos of memories. (...) For what else is a collection but a disorser to which habit has accomodated itself to such an extent that it can appear as order? (...) Thus there is in the life a a collector a dialectical tension between the poles of disorder and order. Naturally, his existence is tied to many other things as well: to a very mysterious relationship (...); also, to a relationship to objects which does not emphasize their functional, utilitarian value - that is, their usufulness - but studies and loves them as the scene, the stage, of their fate. The most profound enchantment for the collector is the locking of individual items within a magic circle in which they are fixed as the final thrill, the thrill of acquisition, passes over them. Everything remembered and thought, everything conscious, becomes the pedestal, the frame, the base, the lock of his property.

Benjamin W. (1931) Unpacking My Library: A talk about book collecting, in Benjamin W. Illuminations (1999). London: Pimlico, p.62

Monday 7 March 2011

On drawing: John Berger

For the artist drawing is discovery.  And that is not just a slick phrase, it is quite literally true. 
It is the actual act of drawing that forces the artist to look at the object in front of him, to dissect it in his mind’s eye and put it together again; or, if he is drawing from memory, that forces him to dredge his own mind, to discover the content of his own store of past observations.


Berger J. Berger on Drawing. Aghabullogue, Co. Cork: Occasional Press (II edition, 2007), p.3.



Drawing works to abolish the principle of Disappearance, but it never can, and instead it turns appearance and disappearance "into a game" [which] can never be won, or wholly controlled, or adeguately understood.
Elkins J., letter to John Berger (2004), in Berger J. Berger on Drawing. Aghabullogue, Co. Cork: Occasional Press (2005), p.112.


Thursday 24 February 2011

Flip through the drawings at Abbott and Holder Ltd

Just opposite the British Museum, in 30 Museum Street, we reach Abbott and Holder. Is one of the galleries that the collector Jason Brown suggested us to visit for our research. The display window on the street gives already an idea of the quantity of artworks that the gallery contains.
 

Abbott and Holder display window.

Once inside, we see that all the space available is filled to the brim. 
On the ground floor we find the exhibition "Portraits under pressure" of the contemporary illustrator Michael Daley (British Press Award 1987) with his caricatures for The Financial Times, The Indipendent, The Observer, etc.
All the other three floors are full of framed artworks on the wall and on the floor; unframed drawings, watercolours and prints are arranged in display racks; these are standing on the floor or on chests of drawers (for storing more drawings).

Display and storing in one of the rooms.

We check almost all the artworks on display and we discover an incredible ammount of drawing of different dimensions, with affordable prizes too. The range of drawings covers different periods, form XVIII to XX century mostly. In particular, the gallery is concentrated in collecting and selling English art.
It is pleasure to flip through all the material at disposal: handle the drawings, feel the variety of paper used, look in backlight how the artist ruled the lines. And finally, check if on the rear of the work there is a note of a previous owner or a serial number of a private collection. What a strong difference form the detached and distant approach to the artwork of the auction houses!


Flip through the drawings in a display rack.

We spend time to take notes and discuss about our personal opinion on the different drawings that corresponds to our personal taste and/or to our collective interest.
In particular, what catch our attention are two different series.

The first is a really particular series dated 1827 by the ornithologist Thomas Bewich (1753-1828). Details, precision and the particular themes represented define this series. Stunning the technique, since it is correlated to the really tiny dimensions of the works (roughly 10x7cm.): Bewich was a wood engraver, so that the series are impressions on paper. Observing the rear of the impressions, I notice a yellow mark, which means thet all the series is already reserved from a possible buyer.
The second series has a landscape subject. On the first drawing, on the top right of the cardboard that frames it, is written on pencil: Samuel Bard 1710-1778. Pen and ink £ 125. The series is not dated, not in the front nor in the rear.  Also these works are of a small dimension (roughly 10x10cm.) and particularly detailed. The drawing of the landscape represent also different architectures (houses, castles, etc.), framed by a draw flourish contour. The prizes of the drawings vary from £125 to £225.

These two series present, within the context of our project, two problems.
We want to purchase a drawing, so an artworks that present the technical characteristic of the drawing. In this case the first series by Thomas Bewich  is out of interest, since is produced with impression on paper.
Secondly, the series are dated, respectively, first half of the XIX century and XVIII century. Which means that if our interest is concentrated in the contemporary or, at least, second half of the XX century, both series are out of our goal.


Framed drawings and  watercolours
leaned on the floor.

We go back on the groundfloor and we meet the Director, Philip Athill, whom kindly answer to some questions about the gallery. When we explain the drawing project he looks interested, he show us a drawing hang in the gallery by Rydal Hanbury, contemporary artist. He shows us her website. His suggestion is to contact her directly and write that he, Philip Athill, gave her name to us. The practice of Rydal Hanbury is focused on drawing and she is also keen to participate in artistic projects. We will, of course, write her soon.


Visit the Abbott and Holder website:
http://www.abbottandholder.co.uk/

Michele Drascek




A visit to Austin / Desmond Fine Art

Austin / Desmond Fine Art faces a courtyard behind Great Russell Street, where also a well-stocked bookshop, a café with tables outside and an old camera shop remind me of a typical Italian square settlement. When we approach the gallery it is clear that the level of the artworks are out of our purchasing power. But we are here also to research and question about the commitment of the gallery with drawing.

Austin / Desmond Fine Art entrance in Pied Bull Yard.

The atmosphere is quite professional and the staff aloof. We visit the space and the works displayed, which turn out to be mostly paintings, particularly modern British painting. At the moment, on display we could see works by Josef Albers, Enrico Castellani, Piero Dorazio and others.
The gallery owns also works by Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975). In fact, we notice two of her drawing, that are delicate and bold at the same time. One drawing is dated 1941, the other one 1953. The prizes are also written on the caption: £60.000,00 the first, £80.000,00 the second.

Then we introduce the drawing project and ask if they have maybe more drawing in stock. The first answer is a question: "What is your budget?". Yes, our purchasing power doesn't correspond to their standards.

Mostly interested in paintings, the gallery offers also prints, but the expert on the matter is not in office today. Anyway, we say that it is drawings what we are really looking for. In the meanwhile, the phone starts to ring continually: it looks that are buyers asking information about artworks and prizes. We leave the gallery for another visit.



Leaving Austin /Desmond Fine Art.

Visit Austin /Desmond Fine Art:
http://www.austindesmond.com/


Michele Drascek

Tuesday 15 February 2011

On drawing: Jean Fisher


Like being caught up in the rhythm of a dance or a jazz ensemble, or mesmerized by the intonations of a poetic reading, the act of drawing dismantles consciousness and plunges the self into a zone of experience or sensation liberated from the closure of representation and open to the free play of possibilities. Thus the drawing is the expression of this libidinal movement, free of signification and interpretation.



Fisher J., On drawing, in De Zegher C. (ed) The Stage of Drawing: Gesture and Act, Selected form the Tate Collection. London; New York: Tate Publishing and the Drawing Centre (2003)




Monday 14 February 2011

Five Evaluation Criteria to purchase the drawing

It is clearly necessary an exchange of ideas on what could be a possible list of evaluation criteria to purchase the drawing. To do so, we decide to limit our personal opinions to a list of five basic criteria. These are, at the same time, what we individually consider as ultimate criteria. The following task of the drawing collective members is to examine resemblances and differences and then negotiate the final five criteria.


Notes on the five criteria from
The Drawing Archive.

The five individual criteria in alphabetic order:

Manca Bajec:
1. Aesthetic quality of the work.
2. Contemporary (i agree that it would be interesting to find an artist that would either hold merit or someone on the rise).
3. Size – ( although i generally would not mind a larger work, perhaps in our case a smaller work would be more interesting to our concept).
4. Preference of technique- Since I believe etching is a drawing technique, I would not mind it but I would find it more challenging to find something that is truly a drawing in the most basic sense- pencil, ink, charcoal...
5. The concept behind the work or the work of the artist in general...here I agree with both of you...it would be interesting to find someone that fits our profile either personally or in the work itself.

Milia Xin Bi:

1. Contemporary: I think it is interesting that we are researching the potential value of contemporary drawing. We are living in the contemporary, and we are creating the value of the art in our age.
2. Relational: It will be great if our selected drawing strongly related to our curating context.
3.  Aesthetics: Definitely high quality piece of art.
4. Materials: I think it’s a part of ‘contemporary’, isn’t it? Drawing is changing all the time because of the different of materials.
5. Size: I don’t mind the size, but I think it is better to have a good frame.

Michele Drascek:
1. Technique (drawing, not print nor etching / at least an artwork produced within the framework "drawing", so that contains the peculiar features of the technique of drawing).
2. Dimension (since the original idea is to exhibit a small drawing + personally I appreciate small artworks in general).
3. Year of production (if we want to stick to the contemporary I would not go back to the year 2000 / if we want to widening the possibilities at least the second half of the XX century).
4. Area of production (could be challenging to find a drawing of an artist simply reachable for a meeting, an interview or writing in support of the project).
5. Artist biography (could be better an artist that comes from a different field of knowledge, so to be more suitable to the drawing project as a whole).

Emma Moore:
1. Unfinished (I like work when the thought process and a sense of "figuring out" is evident, I think that would suit our overall idea)
2. Good/Strong quality of line
3. Contemporary ( Ideally I would like work from an established artist that would be able to hold its own in the space as the only artwork)
4. Experimental in the use of materials (I've been thinking about what constitutes a drawing and I think something that challenges the idea of what a    drawing is might be interesting)
5. Dimension (I also agree that it should be small)



Friday 11 February 2011

On drawing: Becky Beasley

The history of drawing has maintained a lightness which painting has not. It was, somehow "weaker" than painting.
Its marginalization was also its strenght.
It was always elsewhere.
Perhaps drawing has within it the capacity for a kind of indifference to history which allows it a less encumbered position or, to use another term form Blanchot, a passionate indifference.



Beasley B. (2008) Nowhere is Here, in MacFarlane K.(2008) Nowhere is here. London: The Drawing Rooms and Portsmouth: Aspex.

Thursday 10 February 2011

The Drawing Room

As stated in the official website, The Drawing Room "is dedicated to the investigation and presentation of international contemporary drawing". We visit The Drawing Room aware of the mission and of the precise commitment of the gallery. We meet Mary Doyle, co-director and curator of the gallery. After a brief introduction of our project, knowing our interest and hypothetical budget, she takes out from the open-shelf of the office three boxes. The boxes contains a considerable amount of drawings in stock, all drew on A4 format paper. These drawings are donated from the artist, have a good sale prize and the earning goes in support of The Drawing Room.

The co-director and curator Mary Doyle
opens the boxes and puts the drawings on display.

There is a lot of material to check and consider:  from drawing produced with the recognizable techniques of drawing to artworks that definitely don't belong to the traditional idea of drawing. So that we handle a landscape - pencil on paper - by Rachel Cattle, a watercolor by Jocelyn Clarke, an abstract pencil and graphite on paper by Ana Genoves, a nude - brown ink on paper - by Marco Livingstone. But also an inkjet on paper by Sara Mackillop, a monoprint on paper by Boffey, a stencil by Tom Woolford or a wood veneer on paper by Ray Cooke. The prizes are really affordable. You could purchase a drawing from the prize of £150 upwards.


Checking the drawings on A4 paper format.

The curator show us then the different publications and catalogues that The Drawing Room produces for the exhibitions. In particular she introduces us to the work of the British artist Adam Dant. What really amused us about his production is not only the accuracy, but also the unexpected dimension of the drawings. For instance, the drawing Wall Street English (2001) - exhibited in 2003 in The Drawing Room - reaches the measurement of 244x244cm.
The gallery has in stock a series of sepia ink drawings by him. They measure is 36x38cm. and, unframed, they cost  £1.700.

Adam Dante The people who live on the plank
artist's book. As his drawings also the book
exceed the standard dimension.

At the end of the meeting, we are invited to what is described as the most  interesting event organized by The Drawing Room: the Silent Auction Event. This could be an opportunity to purchase a drawing for the project, but, unfortunately, the date of the auction is long after the opening of our exhibition. We will anyway try to attend this curious event.


Visit The Drawing Room website:
http://www.drawingroom.org.uk/

Michele Drascek

Fundraiser event presentation



Presentation during the drawing fundraiser event
Wednesday 9th February 2011, The Green Room 
Chelsea College of Art and Design
video 3min 44sec     © the drawing 2011

the drawing. fundraiser night. wednesday 9th 2011.

In November 2010, four students on the MA Curating course at Chelsea College of Art and Design formed The Drawing Collective. The collective were presented with the opportunity of creating an exhibition at the Wimbledon Space, in the Wimbledon College of Art. Since then the idea has grown into something that we all wish to continue long after we complete our studies.

The concept for the exhibition evolves from the idea of the four members, acting as one collector, to purchase a small drawing. This will be the first acquisition in the Drawing Collective’s collection. In order to make an informed decision, about the drawing, we have attended auctions, meetings with collectors, artists, professors, gallery managers, auctioneers, librarians, and many others involved in the field of art. During this process of selecting a drawing, which is yet to purchased, thorough documentation through photography, sketches, writings and video is carried out. As part of the research, we have also been recording conversations within the collective, which reveal our decision-making process. All of this documentation constitutes an archive, The Drawing Archive.

Throughout the entire process we have been and will be performing different functions and assuming different roles: collective, collector, artist, archivist, curator and manager. In this way we question the necessity of defining these roles.
The final exhibition at the Wimbledon space will take the form of an interactive installation.  Included will be the purchased drawing and the archive of the whole process, which will be at the disposal of the audience. The exhibition will be laid out as our workspace. By revealing the usually hidden aspects in exhibition making we are experimenting with curatorial methods. 

At the closing of the exhibition, we wish to host an event, a conversation with professionals in the field of drawing and archive and in doing so we hope to open up relevant discussions in the field. Finally, we aim to produce a substantial publication that would reflect the process we undertook.

With your help we will be a lot closer to achieving complete realization of our project. In exchange for your generosity, we can offer your name to be listed as a patron, within the exhibition space as well as the publication.


To support the project, please donate to:

Account Name: The Drawing
Branch Sort Code: 40-07-13
Account Number: 42035014
Swift: MIDLGB22
IBAN: GB96MIDL40071342035014

The Drawing Collective:
Manca Bajec, Milia Xin Bi, Michele Drascek, Emma Moore





Images from the drawing fundraiser event

The fundraiser was a great success last Wednesday night.
We had a really good turn-out and we would like to thank everybody who attended.
A very special thank you to those who donated and became patrons of the drawing collective!
See images below.

Don't forget you still can become a patron (Paypal and bank account details can be found on the blog). 


The reception in The Green Room



The presentation of the drawing project


Emma Moore and Michele Drascek presenting the project
 

Isobel Whitelegg (left)



Donald Smith (center)
 

Emma Moore, Manca Bajec and Milia Xin Bi


Michele Drascek, Jason Brown and Carlos Noronha Feio
 


The public


David Medalla and Inti Guerrero


David Medalla and Milia Xin Bi