ART CITIES:N.York-The Projective Drawing

In this book “The Projective Cast” (1995) completed shortly before his death, the architect, teacher and historian Robin Evans, explores the idea of the relationship between geometry and architecture, drawing on mathematics, engineering, art history, and aesthetics to uncover processes in the imagining and realizing of architectural form.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Austrian Cultural Forum New York Archive

In his book Robin Evans shows that geometry does not always play a stolid and dormant role but, in fact, may be an active agent in the links between thinking and imagination, imagination and drawing, drawing and building. He suggests a theory of architecture that is based on the many transactions between architecture and geometry as evidenced in individual buildings, largely in Europe, from the fifteenth to the twentieth century. In the group exhibition “The Projective Drawing” at Austrian Cultural Forum New York (ACFNY), curator Brett Littman applies Evans’s theory, which is skeptical of drawing at its core, to challenge our understanding of how the medium of drawing operates in contemporary culture by highlighting both Austrian and international artists whose drawings require viewers to activate a matrix of complex and nontraditional ideas in order to interpret the works on view. The site-specific installations by Judith Saupper and Lionel Favre, redefine the art of drawing, requiring the viewer to walk around, into, and even crawl under the works to fully experience them. Leopold Strobl creates miniature landscapes on old newspapers. He draws in the morning and single-mindedly finishes a new piece per session. This aspect of his routine relates directly to his chosen format (most works are approximately 4.2 x 3.9 in). Strobl always renders his drawings or the component parts of his paper collages, on carefully selected newsprint clips, which he then adheres onto clean drawing paper. His work prompts viewers to contemplate the essentially incomplete and partial nature of drawing. Transcending classic geometry James Siena, Brigitte Mahlknecht, and Seher Shah, build contemporary visual spaces that can only exist suspended in our imagination. Drawings created using plant extracts by the Sara Flores are deeply tied to her relationship to the vegetal world and the healing ayahuasca ceremonies performed by shamans in the Peruvian Amazon. In a similar manner, collages and drawings by William Cordova amalgamate images to represent the body’s relationship to vernacular architecture, sound, pop culture, and politics. Lastly, Simona Koch’s large-scale genealogical maps highlight how drawing can visualize research, history, and networks. Participating Artists: William Cordova, Lionel Favre, Sara Flores and the Shipibo Conibo Center, Simona Koch, Brigitte Mahlknecht, Judith Saupper, Seher Shah, James Siena, Katrín Sigurdardóttir, and Leopold Strobl

Info: Curator : Brett Littman, Austrian Cultural Forum New York (ACFNY), 11 East 52nd Street, New York, Duration 6/2-13/5/18, Days & Hours: Daily 10:00-18:00, www.acfny.org