NEW YORK, NY.- For the second long-term installation presented in the Lab Corridor, The Drawing Center presents a site-specific installation by the Santa Fe-based artist Susan York, which references the internal structure of the museum’s 35 Wooster Street building. Using graphite as a sculptural rather than a two-dimensional medium, York created replicas of parts of the museum’s foundation: irregular granite piers that protrude above the museum’s ground floor. Four graphite drawings, each mirroring the appearance of a pier, hang alongside York’s sculptural works, strengthening the ties between drawing and sculpture in her practice. York’s long-term installation initiates an expanded field of activity at The Drawing Center, offering an opportunity to explore drawing as an interactive and socially-minded practice. By bringing attention to The Drawing Center’s building, York’s installation encourages discussion about the importance of museums as public spaces with historical and physical presence. Organized by Amber Harper, Assistant Curator.

Active since the 1980s, Susan York’s work brings attention to overlooked architectural details by strategically positioning monolithic, cast graphite planes and cubes adjacent to corners, moldings, and light wells. Recent solo exhibitions of her work have been mounted by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe; Sheldon Art Museum, Lincoln, Nebraska; Santa Fe Art Institute; and the Lannan Foundation, Santa Fe. Her work has also been included in group exhibitions at 308@156 Project Artspace, New York, and the Mies van der Rohe Haus, Berlin, among many others.

Eddie Martinez’s drawing practice blends seamlessly with his daily life as the New York-based artist carries pen and paper with him on the subway, to the doctor’s office, and to restaurants, and lectures. Stylistically evocative of mid-century abstraction, Martinez’s drawings bring their own complexity, plugging a rotating cast of characters into raw, vigorously-drawn landscapes: cartoon ducks, oversized eyes, coiled snakes, and anthropomorphic blocks of color are among his itinerant motifs. In his Brooklyn studio, Martinez maintains a “drawing wall,” wherein sketches ranging in size, shape, and material serve simultaneously as a source of inspiration and a data bank for the artist’s incessant imaginative output. The Drawing Center’s exhibition Eddie Martinez: Studio Wall, brings the drawing wall to the museum. The artist has papered the gallery with thousands of sketches that he will change throughout the exhibition’s run. In the Drawing Room gallery, thousands of sketches paper the museum walls and the artist will make substitutions throughout the exhibition, adding and subtracting sketches over the course of the show. In addition, several large drawings and paintings are hung on top of these sketches allowing viewers to observe the interconnection between all aspects of Martinez’s practice. Organized by Claire Gilman, Chief Curator.

Eddie Martinez was born in 1977 in Groton, Connecticut, and currently lives and works in Brooklyn. This year, Martinez will present a solo exhibition at the Davis Museum of Wellesley College in Massachusetts. In New York, Martinez shows with Mitchell-Innes & Nash and has presented solo exhibitions at Half Gallery; The Journal Gallery; and ZieherSmith. Internationally, Martinez has presented solo exhibitions at Timothy Taylor, London; Sorry We’re Closed, Brussels; Peres Projects, Berlin; Schwarz Contemporary, Berlin; and Loyal Gallery, Stockholm. Martinez’s works have also been included in group exhibitions at the Kunstmuseum Bonn; Phoenix Art Museum; International Print Center, New York; Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow; Museo de la Cuidad de Mexico, Mexico City; Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome; and Deitch Projects, New York.