Dark Drawings

Project Statement

Late one night as I drew in my studio by the light of a dying lantern I inadvertently discovered a new flexibility of the drawing medium.  Surprisingly, the dynamic value range of these drawings (the lights and darks) rather than diminishing in low light, significantly expanded.  Creating and viewing these particular drawings in low light uses darkness as a kind of translator to change the effect– and therefore the meaning– of the images.

The “power of suggestion” is a common psychological effect that is the cause of our mistaking glimpsed strangers for friends or finding Jesus's face in a cheezetoast.  But in this exhibit the effect can be in essence turned on and off at will without touching the work, clearly demonstrating that the strange luminosity of these peculiar images exist mostly in the mind rather than in the physical world.  

Art is a co-creative process. Dark Drawings presents evocative images that stimulate the mind's supersensitive receptors to infuse a suggested image with stirring effect.  In full light subtle values that seem present in the dark actually vanish or sometimes even the theme itself changes.   This points up that crucial factor that makes viewing good art such a deeply magical and powerful experience: the viewer's imagination!

Technical Page

The Artist

It is impossible to approximate the special viewing conditions necessary to view the art works in the proper situation in full light or on a computer screen.  However, this drawing, executed in the dark, gives an idea of the kind of "impressionist" treatment that many Dark Drawings share.