"Things the Mind Already Knows:" The Drawings of Jasper Johns (A Review)

Forty of Jasper Johns' drawings of the last ten years, currently on exhibit at Matthew Marks (522 W. 22 St.) in Chelsea, recommend themselves on so many levels that it's hard to know where to begin. I was struck not just by his continuing obsession with the images he's made famous over the years but by his obvious love for drawing and drawing materials. He's said this before, but it's clear he loves seeing how his targets, flags, numbers, etc. change from one medium to the next, how they emerge so differently on various material surfaces. He makes them all look new.

As much as I like looking at Johns' canvases, I love seeing these images played out on paper, created with all sorts of combinations of ink, acrylic, pencil, graphite, watercolor, etc. Artists with a large body of drawings gain my trust, as I believe that there's something deep about a compelling need among true artists to express themselves visually with whatever materials are at hand.

The exhibit at Matthew Marks certainly dissuades one from thinking that any one of Johns' images belongs to a specific decade and then abandoned in later years. He continues to recycle the whole bag of tricks - flags, flagstones, numerals, crosshatch patterns, alphabet letters, harlequin imagery, the bridge catenary, cruciforms, and maps of the United States. He's referred to these images, most of them from everyday life, as the "things the mind already knows." They're in his artistic DNA now and perhaps emerge involuntarily.

Johns' interpretation of Juan Gris, as depicted in a pair of drawings, suggests that he acknowledges his connection to many of the Cubists. Indeed, the imagery of the cubists find new echoes in Johns' works - the harlequins of Pablo Picasso, the target-like objects of Robert Delauney, and the presence of letters in cubist collage. "After Picasso," an ink and graphite drawing from 1998, explores the kind of hands and eyes that Picasso created in Guernica and related works, combined with Johns' characteristic crosshatching. The fact that Johns points to a longer artistic heritage in which he plays a part, in addition to his habits of drawing, elevates his work above that of many contemporary younger artists who feel compelled to substitute concepts for actual work.

I had one overarching impulsive reaction to seeing all this fine recent work by the elder statesman of American arts. It was "Johns wins."

Jasper Johns: Drawings 1997-2007 at Matthew Marks Gallery, 522 W. 22 St., continues through April 12, 2008

See also the review of Jasper Johns: Gray at the Met.

Walking Art Video: Mesmerizing Animated Wall Painting by the Artist Blu

I enjoy this animated wall painting from the artist Blu. I also like Blu's website, not only for its clever design but for the sketchbooks.
I haven't sketched in a long time. I usually sketch outside, but it's too cold, and I'm getting cabin fever. I get vicarious pleasure from watching Blu's walking/sketching on the walls, something I know I can't get away with at home.

Thank You for Not Sketching: Sketching Policies of New York Museums

A time-honored practice in formal art training, sketching art objects in museums can enhance the artistic experience. It's important to know, though, that each museum establishes its own policy with respect to permitted sketching materials. While the Met allows several types of drawing utensils, the Cloisters branch is more restrictive. Most museums do not have a problem with someone sketching with a pencil in a small notebook, but when a person sets up camp, spreads out an oversize drawing pad on the museum's lovely floor and starts pulling dusty pastels out of their drawing bag, then the security guards take notice.

What follows is a smattering of sketching policies of some New York museums, collected from their respective websites. Once or twice I made the mistake of drawing with contraband art materials, and I did not enjoy the official conversations that ensued. Hey, kids, stay clean:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

"Sketching with pencil, felt tip, ballpoint, crayon, pastel, and charcoal is permitted in all galleries of the Museum devoted to the permanent collection and in most special exhibitions."
"Please note that at The Cloisters, only sketching with pencil is permitted. All other materials are prohibited." (more details and info at the Met's website)

Guggenheim

"Pencils, sketchbooks, and notebooks are permitted. However, pens, paints, and easels are not permitted."

The Frick

"All visitors, including groups of art students, are permitted to sketch in the galleries of The Frick Collection on paper not to exceed 12 x 18 inches and with charcoal or lead pencils only. If individuals need to sharpen their pencils, they must use their own boxes to collect the shavings." (more details at the Frick's website)

Museum of Modern Art

"Sketching is permitted in the galleries (pencil only, no ink or paint) with sketchbooks no larger than 8 1/2 x 11 inches (21.6 x 27.9 cm). No easels, stools, or sketching while sitting on the floor is permitted. If galleries are crowded, guards may ask visitors to stop sketching or writing."

New Museum of Contemporary Art

"Sketching is permitted in the galleries (pencil only, no ink or paint) with sketchbooks no larger than 8 1/2 by 11 inches (21 1/2 x 28 centimeters). No easels, stools, or sketching while sitting on the floor is permitted. If galleries are crowded, guards may ask visitors to stop sketching or writing."

Hey! Wait! Isn't the New Museum's policy the same as MoMA's? Like, the same words, except for the calculation of centimeters? Interesting! MoMA's math is more precise, by the way.

I'll add to this list as necessary. See other posts related to drawing on this website.

Image: Notebook, 6 3/4 x 10 inches (17.1 x 25.4 cm) and pencil, within the legal limits of most museums.

Walking with Seurat in the Deepening Darkness

Georges Seurat's drawings at MoMA, which continue to haunt me now that I have seen them, trumped so much of the art that I passed leaving the museum that I couldn't bear to look at much else on exhibit (except Martin Puryear's Ladder to Booker T. Washington). This assembled gathering of over a hundred of Seurat's exquisitely crafted drawings of figures in the darkening urban twilight (and other dramatic hours) and rendered in black conté pencil on textured paper must count at the top of any exhibition of drawings I have ever seen.

On the afternoon I attended the exhibition, several visitors, including myself, brought their drawing materials with them to get a sense of Seurat's method. These drawings are so seductively tactile that I wanted to feel some of their material power and energy by attempting to copy some of his shapes and lines. Those lines! Some swirl randomly in interlocking passages, while others cross-hatch into the darkest blacks. And Seurat must be the master at what all art teachers try to explain - let the white of the paper function as the light, whether it's artificial or natural.

After leaving MoMA in the late afternoon, I had planned to take the E train back to the W. 4th station, but upon learning that the train was delayed for an indeterminate time, I decided to foot it from 53rd St. down Fifth Avenue to the Village. In the deepening twilight of a cool day, I could see the boulevardiers ahead of me, some in full-length black coats, in motion and in darkness, loosing some focus and detail. Heading home, my fresh memory of the drawings of Georges Seurat from France during the 1880s cross-hatched and blended with life in contemporary Manhattan.

Image: detail of Deux hommes marchant dans un champ (Two Men Walking in a Field) Georges-Pierre Seurat, ca.1882-1884

Georges Seurat: The Drawings continues at the Museum of Modern Art through January 7, 2008. View the online exhibition here.

See the related post: Seurat Out Walking and Drawing on an Ordinary Sunday.

Weekend Frivolities

While Walking Off the Big Apple prepares to visit The Cloisters, I have assembled a couple of items for your weekend enjoyment:

Contemplate the relationship of Lomography to Flânerie.
I enjoy walking through the streets without a camera, but I wholeheartedly support those that do. I especially like the flâneuring young street photographers who take images with their Soviet-style cameras. Learn more about the role Vladimir Putin played in the revival of the Leningrad Optics and Mechanics Association (Lomo) camera by reading an article from the BBC here.
While many Lomo pix are hipster awful, please see the extraordinary Lomo photos on the Flickr site of Lee Wei-l (b. 1982 Taipei).

(Image) Enjoy browsing through New York Sketches from 1902 and Charcoals of New and Old New York from 1912. Download them at The Prelinger Archives on the Internet Archive.

That's all for right now.

And for those on the New York Yankees diet, remember that you have to walk 9.5 miles to walk off a big pastrami sandwich. See the chart.

Back-to-School Art Supplies Walk

View Larger Map

Want to draw or paint but need something to draw or paint with? Visit three New York art supply dealers, see some architecture, important cultural landmarks, and find places to sit, draw, and eat on this self-guided tour.
I'd rather spend my money in art stores than in clothing boutiques, because I can always find something beautiful, affordable, and a good fit for me. That said, I have bought more supplies than I need - handmade pastel chalks, empty sketchbooks, watersoluble ink pencils, watersoluble color crayons, variously hued chalk pastels, graphite pencils, etc. I like to look at them all, and I enjoy imagining that I will make beautiful drawings very soon.

For details of the tour, please enlarge the map.

The Ups and Downs of Drawing on Location

I'm about to take a test drive of the Back-To-School Art Supplies Walk, but first, I want to share with you some thoughts and concerns about drawing on location:

• In large tourist destinations, artists drawing on location often become magnets for children and their parents. "She's drawing! Look at the artist! I can't draw a stick!" Often, passersby will offer nice and mercifully brief compliments to the artist, while others will embark upon lengthy oral histories. Small sketchbooks draw the least attention. On the other hand, drawing with larger materials can attract more friends than MySpace.

• Permissions. Please check with the managers of the location, especially museums, before pulling out art supplies fancier than a pencil and paper. I made the mistake once of thinking that the drawing policy at The Cloisters was the same as the parent company, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I got into some kind of trouble. Many museums post their drawing policy on their websites, usually under visitor information. See The Met's sketching policy here.

• Be careful drawing people. Drawing people on location is tricky. How would you feel if you were sitting at a café trying to mind your own business and then realized that the person at the next table was attempting to draw the line of your nose?

• Good places to draw on location in NYC: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (even the cafeteria), The American Museum of Natural History (especially the least visited parts), South Street Seaport, Bryant Park, Brooklyn Heights Promenade, Central Park, and well, most places with a nearby café.

Why I Draw

I have traditionally considered myself a writer, but I love to draw. I find drawing a way to engage with the world, a form of active observation that leads to insight and awareness. The process of drawing is not unlike writing for me. It's during the process of drawing or writing that I discover new depths or connections among things.

I spent some time last year reading the classic book on the subject, Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain, by Betty Edwards. While working through the exercises, I reached states of meditation so deep and mysterious that I surprised myself as someone raised Episcopalian.

My mother knew how to draw, and was good at it, because she was raised with the expectation that all refined young women knew skills of drawing as well as mastery of card games such as bridge. I am frightened of playing bridge in New York, having read Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth,* so I find it safer to stick with drawing as a social pastime. Drawing has many advantages, especially its portability for the average flâneuse, and I've made all sorts of friends while sketching in museums.

* Walking Off the Big Apple is working on a Lily Bart/The House of Mirth special that will be available eventually.

Walking Off The Hot Big Draw '07: A Report

From The Big Draw ...

I made it to three venues of The Big Draw yesterday, participating in two events and taking several photographs of another. I've put all the images in one album here above.

I started at the National Museum of the American Indian, arriving just in time to enjoy a fascinating performance by the Northern Tide Dancers from Alaska. The venue was perfect for drawing. The museum staff had set up easels and handed out large pieces of paper on boards and some graphite pencils for everyone. After we all got settled, and I decided on the floor, artist Jeffrey Gibson gave an introduction to gesture drawing and asked us to respond to the sounds and feeling of the dancers. The dancers, colorfully clad in cloaks bearing signs of animals, entered the pavilion in a procession. They sang, danced, and told stories for nearly an hour, and I can still hear one of the songs in my head. I hung out with a couple of the dancers after, and we talked about everyone's drawings. I enjoyed the museum so much that I stayed there longer than planned. The organizers asked for people to share their drawings with everyone else, so I gave them mine.

From the museum I walked over to the World Financial Center, taking my time on a hot day to explore the coolness of the Battery Park City Esplanade on the west side. When I arrived at the outdoor court of the WFC I was startled to see two buses knitted and crocheted together, the kind of thing that prompts the cliché "only in New York." Not finding a point of entry to participate, I ended up taking colorful photographs that you can see in the album above.

From the WFC I decided to go to Battery Park City's Teardrop Park. Staffers handed out materials to draw images of the park, mainly the flora, and/or portraits of eyes. I made some ink washes of leaves on plants, turned them back in, and they added these to drawings by others on a long scroll that lined the park. The effect was very beautiful. I wanted to stay longer, but it was too hot to draw anymore, and I was about to pass out.

After downing a big bottle of water, I recovered enough to walk home on W. Broadway, enjoying the presence of so many drawing aficionados and café denizens of New York on a Saturday afternoon. At the end I encountered the annual Art Parade and its festive revelers. A few parade participants, though clad only in glitter, wigs, and a couple of feathers, seemed also to be on the verge of passing out from heat exhaustion. I have photographs of them, too, but that is for another time.

Walking to The Big Draw: An Event Saturday, September 8

If I could fantasize an event made just for me and others who love to walk and draw, it would be The Big Draw. Sponsored by the River-to-River Festival (with The Drawing Center) and inspired by a popular festival in the UK, the second annual Big Draw will take place Saturday, September 8 at several venues in lower Manhattan. I attended last year's event, and I found the activities so inspirational that I decided to take formal classes in drawing.

Last year I started in Teardrop Park in Battery City where I picked up my complimentary little drawing book and pencil, drew some scenery and then made my way to several of the venues. At the World Financial Center artist Monika Weiss inspired people to lie down on the floor with her and draw. That's what's going on in the picture you see here. As lower Manhattan is basically squeezed close together, it's easy to walk to each event.

This year's events include a Big Knit, Asian calligraphy, laser tags, drawing Alaskan tribe dancers, and a host of other events that will expand your definition of drawing.

The Big Draw

Walk and Draw: A Back-to-School Special

On this bright clear morning, Walking Off the Big Apple almost collided with several cell-phone-toting undergrads, and I realized all too clearly the implications of this annual fall invasion. The lines at Pinkberry on Spring Street will now be near impossible, and finding a vacant, or at least quiet, table at a nearby cafe will be a joke. Otherwise, I welcome the purple people eaters from NYU and am here to help them navigate the exciting streets of the big city.

Now that Labor Day weekend is over, the city woke up this morning to a quicker pace. It's Back to Work for a lot of people, as well as Back to School, and so the happy-go-luckiness of the summer has rapidly given way to the career-minded anxiety of autumn's potential failure.

Thinking of these undergraduates and their blossoming hopes, the time when it is still possible to talk in terms of one's potential, I am reminded that we all can go back to school at whatever age. I myself have taken advantage of both formal and informal continuing art instruction in the past year, prolonging even more the spirit of my near record-setting tenure as a graduate student.

My particular bent is for drawing classes. I enjoy drawing, but I am afraid that I will end up drawing stick figures. Fortunately, I can take advantage of the several options here in NYC:

Continuing Education. Almost all the colleges in NYC have art classes for adults. I've enjoyed the ones at Cooper Union, especially Drawing on Location and Portrait Drawing.

Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School. I can't begin to tell you how fun it is to drink and draw burlesque queens at a bar in Williamsburg. You MUST go, even if you can only draw stick figures.

Spring Street Studio. I plan to start attending this well-known studio, as the studio features life drawing sessions all the live-long day. They didn't even shut down for the Labor Day weekend. They stop for no one.

Animal Drawing at the American Museum of Natural History. At the end of September, the museum is offering drawing classes based on their vast collection of animals both extinct and alive. I have a fondness for the animals that remind me of my dogs.

I will devote several posts this week to Back-to-School (especially Back to ART School) topics.

Reading in parks

On summer days my walks usually begin and end in parks. New Yorkers flock to parks, like birds, where they perch on benches and read. Over the last few weeks I've grown fascinated with this particular species, sketching them reading newspapers, novels, textbooks, magazines, whatever.
I've seen lots of people reading the last Harry Potter book, but the guys tend to leave off the dust jacket.

My weird fusion drawing medium (or media?)

I carry my journal and drawing supplies in a small backpack. I draw in ballpoint pen and then add colors with colored pencils. As I frequently make mistakes, I also use a big jumbo correction fluid pen. This drawing of the back of the Garibaldi statue in Washington Square Park is typical of my process.