#6 in the New Drawings from Old (1974-2014) series, revised 1.20.14, using a #2 pencil on paper, 14″ x 10.5″ (aka Beam Me Up Scottie)
Looking now at these transitional drawings started in 1974 and brought to a new level of finish in the last few days, I’m reminded how much the work of this exploratory period forty years ago was influenced by my career at the time as a fashion illustrator – a career I was determined to leave behind in search of more challenging artistic horizons. However, the extended Mannerist figures so beloved of the fashion world I adapted to my own purposes.
After several years of drawing hundreds of figures, both male and female, clothed in the superficial ‘rags’ of their age, it was a relief to return in drawing to a more timeless nakedness, symbolic of internal innocence and an aspiration for spiritual insight and transformation. These drawings became one more way of exploring the yin and yang aspects suffusing the sacred and profane realms available to me as an artist. The draw to such rapturous expression found its way into my oil painting as well, as evidenced by this small canvas, Ascent, 20″ x 16″ now in the collection of Paul Bachmann, wherever he may be…
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