Drawing the first layer with oil pastels (10 Jan 2011)
Viewers 'excavating' the work, scraping the black oil pastel off to reveal the colours.
Drawing as of 14 Jan 2011, 9:29pm
Oil pastels on paper
150 x 500cm
The work primarily explores two concerns: Firstly, it examines drawing through erasure, employing the act of scratching or inscribing on a surface. It hopes to remind viewers that drawing, whether traditional or contemporary, is underpinned by the human instinct to make marks on a surface and leave traces behind. Secondly, it explores the condition of ephemerality as the project exhibits a drawing-in-process, and demonstrates—how through the hands of the ‘drawer’— the artwork changes with time.
In addition to these two main concerns, the work also examines the participatory role of the viewers in the art-making process, as well as the performative quality of the drawing process.
With regards to the first concern, the viewers encounters a black drawing surface covered with oil pastel. They are invited to participate in the drawing process by inscribing on the surface with a tool provided.
In addition to making marks and leaving traces behind (the remnants produced as a result of the scratching of the surface remain on the gallery's floor which is covered with paper), the erasure also reveals what is hidden beneath the drawing surface. It will eventually expose the artist’s actual drawing.
In other words, it exposes a drawing by drawing though the act of removing/erasing/inscribing. This is not unlike an excavation process where the excavator carefully removes materials from an area in order to find buried remains. Here, the viewers participate in the drawing in order to get to the essence of the whole artwork—the artist’s drawing.
In the case of exploring the condition of ephemerality, the work exhibits a black drawing which changes with time through the ‘excavating action’ of the viewers, to reveal another drawing. A photo- and video-documentation of the change will be done and displayed at the exhibition site.
Video-documentation can be viewed on YouTube:
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