DRAWING ON SPACE
19 June - 27 July 2002

Drawing on Space : Russell Crotty  Graham Gussin  Alan Johnston  Takehito Koganezawa  Silke Schatz  Oliver Zwink

Drawing on Space investigates the different ways in which contemporary artists articulate space. Focusing on the sculptural capacity of drawing, these six artists present work in a range of media, including four new commissions. The types of space evoked range from the physically constructed space we inhabit to the psychological dimensions of an inner world.

With his globes, Russell Crotty (USA) displays the quasi-scholarly results of his nocturnal star gazing, combining the lush texture of his drawings with an intriguing set of spatial structures. Graham Gussin (UK) presents a newly commissioned digital work which develops his ongoing investigations into notions of time and space. Alan Johnston's (UK) site-specific wall drawings use short irregular pencil marks, closely interwoven to form recognisable geometric shapes which take their lead from the spaces around them. Takehito Koganezawa's (Japan) video work and drawings present humorous and surreal juxtapositions and suggest the tangential explorations of the psyche. Koganezawa will undertake a residency at fa projects during June 2002. Silke Schatz (Germany) creates almost life-size drawings of politically-charged interiors; her coloured pencil drawings invite us to enter and consider the spaces from within. Oliver Zwink's (Germany) three-dimensional installations echo the decay of urban life. The clumsy paper townscapes, dripping in water and dye, are poems to the failure of urban planners.

Beyond the exhibition space, artist and curator Amy Plant (UK) is investigating the use of drawing in everyday life through the outreach project, Drawn. This will culminate in a published map and a practical workshop collaboration between Snowsfields Primary School and Southwark Cathedral.

The following talks will take place at fa projects and are free:
Saturday 22nd June, 3pm, Oliver Zwink, Artist, Drawing on Space.
Saturday 20th July, 3pm, Katharine Stout, Curator, THE DRAWING ROOM
Saturday 27th July,7pm live performance with Takehito Koganezawa and Brandon LaBelle

To coincide with the exhibition, THE DRAWING ROOM will publish Drawing on Space, which crosses continents and generations to demonstrate the potential of drawing to articulate the spaces we occupy. The book combines new commissions, existing work and archival material by the artists in the exhibition and Katja Davar (UK), Julie Mehretu (Ethiopia/USA), Nasreen Mohamedi (India), Max Neuhaus (USA), Paul Noble (UK), Tomoko Takahashi (UK) and Bjarni Thórarinsson. Work by George Maciunas, Constant Nieuwenhuys, Mieko Shiomi and Yasunao Tone, artists associated with Fluxus and the Situationist International, provides an historical context. Designed by Marit Münzberg, this 80-page book with full colour plates is priced at £15.

Drawing on Space is curated by THE DRAWING ROOM in collaboration with Grant Watson and will tour to Project, Dublin, 16 August – 20 September 2002.

Drawing on Space is funded by London Arts and the Henry Moore Foundation.

The Drawing Room is a non-profit organisation, set up in association with Tannery Arts in Summer 2000, to provide a platform for the exploration of drawing – its medium, theory and practice – within a contemporary context. For more information please contact: Mary Doyle, Kate Macfarlane or Katharine Stout at mail@drawingroom.org.uk or tel. 020 7383 3716