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January 30, 2007

Drawing scribbles on the surface again.

Adrian Searle reviews Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art’s opening exhibition DRAW in the Guardian.

Drawing raises its scratchy head whenever people try to justify art, like when they have to open a new art gallery. They see drawing as a measure of artistic ability. Let’s face it, there are precious few measures in art.

But just in case people think museums and galleries are getting choosy there is always a lot of this sort of “drawing”:

tom-hooper.jpg
Tom Hooper

Which can confuse people. There’s nothing wrong with it – it’s expressive drawing, mark making at its most fundamental, but most people think of Objective Drawing when they think of drawing:

harlequin-jan-17.jpg
Harlequin, charcoal on paper, 840mm x 590mm

Posted by john at January 30, 2007 02:18 PM

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