Black on White Wall Drawings by 14 Artists

QUEENS, NEW YORK.- The Queens Museum of Art presents "37 Running Feet: Black on White Wall Drawings by 14 Artists," on view through March 2, 2003. The emancipatory effect of direct execution on the open wall surface coupled with the decisiveness of black on white shapes up a distinct collective energy among wildly idiosyncratic image creators. 637 Running Feet: Black on White Wall Drawings by 14 Artists presents diverse styles and methods from figuration to abstract geometry and from narrative to symbolism. Artists incorporate site-specificity in their subjects or negotiate spatial characteristics in works made in precise draftsmanship, rolling pen and ink, stretches of masking tape, and acrobatic gestures in house paint. Furthering drawing’s privileges of immediacy, these artists productively contest subjectivity of the image and cultural symbols. An opening reception will be held January 12, 2003.

The artists in 637 Running Feet include Nicole Awai, Suzanne Bocanegra, Chitra Ganesh, Ellen Harvey, Rajkamal K. Kahlon, Elizabeth Karsch, Kasper Kovitz, Sun K. Kwak, Bing Lee, Christóal Lehyt, Joan Linder, Nicky Nodjoumi, Lisa Sanditz, and Patricia Zarate.

Drafted in a technical blueprint style, Nicole Awai’s White Recession presents two views of an ornamental rum bottle mutated by a mysterious oozing growth. Its formal ambiguity navigates the multiplicity of one’s perceptions of socio-cultural difference.

Suzanne Bocanegra’s Draft for an Ancient Notebook (for Beryl Korot) pays homage to the conceptual artist whose pioneering video work related to the technology of the loom. Based on coverlet weaving patterns, Bocanegra’s graphite lines weave a delicate geometry across a free-standing wall.

Chitra Ganesh’s Monkeygirl Histories is a fanciful spectacle of girls in a gravity-defying formation. Loosely connected by an umbilical cord-like strand, the imagery enacts fragmented mythologies and ideas about social and spiritual struggles of womanhood in Southeast Asian culture.

A rendering of the Unisphere by Ellen Harvey based on archival photographs allows simultaneous viewing of her drawn image and the actual monument. Harvey’s discrete violation of the source images reveals the pictorial untruthfulness of "painted" representation. Towering from floor to ceiling, three giant figures by Rajkamal K. Kahlon speak to the artist’s dissatisfaction with stereotypical representations of Indian culture. Her pictorial intervention of found images (in a 19th century American school primer, for instance) trumps assumptions underlying cultural fetishization.

Elizabeth Karsch creates an abstract and cartoonish physical map on an event in time, inviting sequential viewing of an explosive occurrence, out of which only a fly is recognizable.

Kasper Kovitz carves lines into the wall surface, rather than putting medium on, to draw out his imagery. With the history of the museum’s New York Building in mind, Kovitz is interested in nostalgic notions of the explorer and the European immigrant experience in early 20th century America.

Sun K. Kwak uses black masking tape as medium an effective tool in taming both the predictable and the unpredictable in the practice of drawing. Negotiating an immense 25’ x 100’ wall, Kwak’s swirling lines translate the geomantic energy of the building’s architecture.

Bing Lee authors pictorial language with composed symbols. While the poetic power of communication is derived from the principles of Chinese characters, Lee also adopts Morse Code to be read in Bill of Rights: First Amendment. The familiar notion of the freedom of expression attains a new twist in the marriage of pictorial imagination and systematic rationalization.

Quoting from mass media sources, Christóal Lehyt reinscribes the political and ethical weight of a photographic image by tracing only its outline. Without written captions or narrating voices, the drawn images commence personalized perspectives to be read anew.

Joan Linder’s Dirty Money, Dirty Oil depicts the magnificently organic presence of an oil rig built above the ocean. Laboriously line-drawn, this earth-looting "manmade beast" aptly embodies both aspirations and transgressions of the capitalist world.

Fascinated by the collision of artificial and natural in today’s American landscape, Lisa Sanditz depicts a story of The Death of Bigfoot--a mythical creature whose demise points to man’s encroachment upon the wilderness.

Towering from floor to ceiling, three giant figures by Rajkamal K. Kahlon speak to the artist’s dissatisfaction with stereotypical representations of Indian culture. Her pictorial intervention of found images (in a 19th century American school primer, for instance) trumps assumptions underlying cultural fetishization.

Elizabeth Karsch creates an abstract and cartoonish physical map on an event in time, inviting sequential viewing of an explosive occurrence, out of which only a fly is recognizable.

Kasper Kovitz carves lines into the wall surface, rather than putting medium on, to draw out his imagery. With the history of the museum’s New York Building in mind, Kovitz is interested in nostalgic notions of the explorer and the European immigrant experience in early 20th century America.

Sun K. Kwak uses black masking tape as medium an effective tool in taming both the predictable and the unpredictable in the practice of drawing. Negotiating an immense 25’ x 100’ wall, Kwak’s swirling lines translate the geomantic energy of the building’s architecture.

Bing Lee authors pictorial language with composed symbols. While the poetic power of communication is derived from the principles of Chinese characters, Lee also adopts Morse Code to be read in Bill of Rights: First Amendment. The familiar notion of the freedom of expression attains a new twist in the marriage of pictorial imagination and systematic rationalization.

Quoting from mass media sources, Christóal Lehyt reinscribes the political and ethical weight of a photographic image by tracing only its outline. Without written captions or narrating voices, the drawn images commence personalized perspectives to be read anew.

Joan Linder’s Dirty Money, Dirty Oil depicts the magnificently organic presence of an oil rig built above the ocean. Laboriously line-drawn, this earth-looting "manmade beast" aptly embodies both aspirations and transgressions of the capitalist world.

Fascinated by the collision of artificial and natural in today’s American landscape, Lisa Sanditz depicts a story of The Death of Bigfoot--a mythical creature whose demise points to man’s encroachment upon the wilderness.

Nicky Nodjoumi uses symbols of social, cultural and psychological resonance with irony and humor. Slight elongation of the overall images further enhances the surreal quality that echoes the dream-like intangibilities of everyday life.

Patricia Zarate’s microscopic drawings are inspired by the geometry of the urban landscape. While they appear serial and abstract at a distance, a close viewing reveals rich detail that accommodates a dialogue between abstract and figurative, vernacular and specific.

This exhibition is organized by Valerie Smith, Director of Exhibitions, and Hitomi Iwasaki, Associate Curator.