PALOS VERDES, CA.- “Marks, Scratches and Doodles” which is on display at the Palos Verdes Art Center from January 26 - March 17, 2007, explores the many and varied aspects of the world of drawing, from simple sketches to complex compositions. The free exhibition, at 5504 W. Crestridge Rd., Rancho Palos Verdes, is open from 1 – 4 p.m. daily.

There will be a reception honoring the participating artists: Srboohie Abajian, Sharon Allicotti, Barbara Berk, Terrill Cascia, Jennifer Celio, Judy Chan, Wes Christensen, Linda Flemming, Reneé Fox, Matthew Furmanski, Mark Steven Greenfield, Carol Goldmark, Ric Heitzman, Kiel Johnson, Eva Kolosvary-Stuplar, Peter Liashkov, Jim Murray, Susan Rush, Michael Salerno, Tom Smith, Michael Storrie, Harrison Storms, Daniel Sweetman, Jamie Sweetman, Joyce Weiss and Lawrence Yun, from 5 – 8 p.m. Friday, January 26.

From painting to architecture, drawing is basic to the visual arts. While, in its broadest sense, drawing includes every use of the delineated line, the word drawing is commonly used to describe works in pen, pencil, crayon, chalk, charcoal and similar media in which form, rather than color, is emphasized. A drawing can be either a preparatory study or a finished work of art in its own right.

Man has been communicating by drawing since time immemorial—the hunter scratching a diagram in the dirt with a stick to show where he found game; the shaman using a piece of charred wood to make symbolic marks on a rock; the warrior marking his face with ochre before battle. The most ancient evidence of the production of art actually predates the generally accepted earliest dates for the appearance of modern humans. Cup marks and a meandering line were etched into a sandstone cave in India two or three hundred thousand years ago.

By the Upper Paleolithic period, man’s drawing had become quite sophisticated. The famous cave paintings in northern Spain and southwestern France, dating back some 35,000 years, include the use of perspective, shading, realistic animal forms, hand stencils, movement and various pigments.

“Marks, Scratches and Doodles” curated by Scott Canty, the Palos Verdes Art Center’s exhibitions director, is a collection of drawings by contemporary Southern California artists. Working in different mediums and styles, these artists demonstrate a variety of creative approaches to the depiction of their individual environments—the people they know and the places in which they live and work.