ONE HUNDRED, presented by BLACKARTPROJECTS
_November 4 - 13, 2011 - Exhibition Opening Friday November 4, 6 - 8pm
'drawings' by
Giles Alexander • Justin Andrews • Steven Asquith • Justin Balmain •
Irene Barberis • Magda Cebokli • Mauro Ceolin • Tony Cran • Steve Danzig •
Fernando do Campo • Ghostpatrol + Miso • Craig Gough • Sharon Green • Lucas Grogan •
Brad Haylock + Kieran Stewart • Pernille Kløvedal Helweg • Sarah Hendy • Maria Ionico • Jasper Knight • Emma Langridge • Sam Leach • Littlewhitehead • Brendan Monroe • Yoshitomo Nara • Ka-chun Ng • Niels Oeltjen • Tom O'Hern • Nana Ohnesorge • Andre Piguet • Matthew Sleeth • Jeffrey Smart • Tai Snaith • Wendy Stavrianos • Kate Stevens • Nessie Stonebridge • Wilma Tabacco • Paul Alexander Thornton • Damon Tong • Daniel Truscott • Vexta • Peter Walsh • Mark Whalen • Sean Whelan • Oscar Yanez • Timothy Zauho
An exhibition of this magnitude is certainly ambitious. Some would say, and have said already, that it is ambitious beyond reason. 100 evolved as a project over the past 12 months from an idea concocted between myself, co-director Andrea Candiani and an artist. It was proposed that the artist produce 100 drawings for a single exhibition. The result however, brings together a body of works that spans four continents, includes over 50 artists and covers a multitude of materials, themes, practices and presentational devices.
100, by and large, is a project that challenges the notion of 'drawing' by staging an exhibition of works that engage the act of drawing in relation to facets of perception, process and the capacity for individual invention. It seeks to encourage discussion about the relevance and transformation of drawing in contemporary art practices.
Interestingly, the most stirring commentary on drawing I have read in recent times was found in a book on an artist most known for his large steel sculptures, Richard Serra.
In Richard Serra’s dynamic formulation, drawing is perceptual, experiential, and conceptual; it is a way to see, feel, and think. From the emergence of drawing as an autonomous art form in the late 1960s to its continuing relevance today as an important means of making in contemporary art, Serra’s approach has significantly contributed to shaping drawing after modernism, a contribution whose influence lies most critically in the way in which the artist goes against many of drawing’s most recognised conventions. While Serra’s works challenge the traditional definition of the medium as a set of figurative lines or marks on a piece of paper that are intended to represent something else, they also support the fundamental role of drawing as a basic, if not primal and intimate, mode of expression. Rather, it is about creating tension within the conventions of drawing and pushing the parameters of the language that we use to physically, and perceptually, understand drawing.[i]
The artists involved in 100 have not been limited by traditional conventions, media or size in realising artworks for the exhibition. Like Serra, they have utilised the foundations of drawing as a medium to expand the structure of their own practice, invariably actuating and enriching our understanding of this fundamental art form.
David Hagger
Blackartprojects, 2011