Artist Research
Fin 110 Unit 2
Critique Drawing #1 – Research
Artists: Zaria Foreman http://www.zariaforman.com and Mary Borgman http://www.duanereedgallery.com/mary-borgman
Zaria Forman
Works chosen to study: (Photos are from www.zariaforman.com )
“Wilhemena Bay” November 23, 2018 – 40”x64”, Soft Pastel on Paper, 2019
“Flower” – Soft Pastel and Charcoal on Paper, 2012
“Ten Years Later” 29”x47” – Soft Pastel and Charcoal on Paper, 2012
“Maldives No.3”- 30”x60”, Soft Pastel on Paper, 2012
“Lindblad Cove, Antarctica” November 22, 2018 – 68”x82”-Soft Pastel on Paper, 2019
“Whale Bay, Antarctica No.2” – 50”x75” – Soft Pastel on Paper, 2016
Zaria Forman (Born 1982) has travelled worldwide documenting climate change through her art, which is mainly expressed in large pastel drawings on paper. Most of her work are images of water, ice and icebergs. Her work first struck me at first because it is very blue, and then because of thewater images. I love the water, and swimming, and nothing makes me feel more relaxed and alive! I am very curious about how to draw water, I don’t understand where it begins and ends…so these works went on to inspire my very first drawing of water!
Zaria grew up travelling with her mother, a fine-art photographer, and she credits these
experiences for inspiring both her love of water and exploring. An interesting fact is that Zaria has exceptional vision that allows her to see very fine nuances of light and color! The artist wants her drawings to look realistic (and they are described as hyperreal) so she can give people the opportunity to “see” these far off places that they may never have a chance to see. Zaria works with soft pastels, and some of her works are so large she needs scaffolding to start at the top. She wears gloves and “paints” with her fingers, although she describes her work as drawings. I think the formal elements of her work that stand out are the use of tone, shape, and color. Zaria draws from memory, and the thousands of photos she takes of the landscapes. She begins with a large outline in pencil of the major structural
elements, and then layers the pigment on the paper, smudging it with her fingers and palms. The paper can only withstand a few thin layers, so she has to work with her “mistakes”.
The work I chose to analyze is “Whale Bay, Antarctica No.2”. The ice has a luminescent quality of blue in the background, showing the depth of the ice and the light behind it, and the water has so many shades of color, all the way through the foreground, from turquoise to plum. “Whale Bay” is in Antarctica, where Zaria travelled as artist-in residence aboard the National Geographic Explorer.
This work is particularly interesting to me because of the “plum” colors in the foreground, which is not seen in many of her other works. It almost sits on top of the water, like a pollutant or algae, rather than being a quality of the light. It almost seems to decrease the value of the ice in the background and makes me question which part of this work is the focus, the water, or the iceberg?
Zaria Foreman currently has a show in Seattle, Washington, at Winston Wacter Fine Art.
Mary Borgman
Works chosen to study: (Photos are from Duane Reed Gallery and National Portrait Gallery Smithsonian Institute)
“Portrait of Officer Dana, 2004”- Charcoal on Mylar, 57”x43”
“Merwin (Merf) Shaw” – Charcoal on Mylar, 2009, 47”x45”
“Portrait of Chris Reuben-Standing” – Charcoal on Mylar, 87”x45”, 2004
Mary Borgman was born in 1959, in St Louis. She has a degree in Graphic communications from Washington University. It was difficult to find a lot of information on Mary, however she is with Duane Reed Gallery and is currently set to retire from Washington University after 15 years of teaching fine arts. Previously, Mary Borgman was with Ann Nathan Gallery in Chicago, perhaps this is why it is difficult to find a complete collection of her work. I found some work quoted as being by Mary Borgman, but not by reputable sources so I only included 3 in my study here. Mary works with charcoal on Mylar, which she explains allows for the illumination of light through the work. The work is done by adding and subtracting value through smudging, blending, erasing and reworking. Her works are life size images of the subjects. Her subjects are people she meets on the street, and then invites them and takes many photographs of them. She later works from the photographs.
I was attracted to Mary’s work because of the depth of expression in the subject’s faces, and by the realism in the work, done with value.
I had never heard of Mylar before, so I researched the product. You can draw on mylar with
charcoal, ink, paint, lead, and you can draw on both sides. You can buy Mylar in a pad just like other art supplies, and when you display your work you put a piece of paper behind the work.
The portrait of Merwin Shaw is the work I studied the most. I was really interested in the idea of smudging, and spent a lot of time with this on one of my other assignments – the drapery assignment.
In the left upper corner of my drawing you can see where I spent a lot of time smudging – with my palm and fingers. The interesting part I discovered was the whole process of subtracting, and how subtraction in some areas left value in others. I was really pleased with 75% of this drawing but I do consider it incomplete and hope to have more time to work on the smudging later.
In my critique drawing, my main focus was learning how to draw the water, and I spent some time working with the charcoal in areas to add darker colors. Then, I used the blending stump, but I used it too much, and was disappointed with the results. I didn’t like the texture of the charcoal I was using, either, and later discovered I had another piece in my art kit that was softer and it didn’t draw so much like a crayon. On Linda’s advice I used the eraser to lighten areas to suggest light, and it really helped the whole composition.
The work is about the lack of water in the world (drinking water and to grow food) and at the same time, we are polluting our oceans that represent part of the water cycle. The goat is a wooden goat, on a stick, on a rock in Deep Bay where I have a little place on the water. The goat is purely for amusement, when the world gets you down – think of my goat.