Every freshman art student goes through basic figure and drawing courses. They spend hours drawing from still life, models, and their every day surroundings. Drawing from life is important for both students as well as professional artists. But why is the concept of drawing from life so essential to communication?
Drawing is essential to the world of visual arts. Nearly anything involving communication of a human experience in visual art requires a drawing skill. Capturing nature by drawing from life, landscape painting, figure drawing, etc., helps the student build a knowledge of their surroundings. Drawing in your sketchbook helps you learn about natural gestures, as well as the way people stand, and how they compose themselves on a daily basis.
Nature is something you deal with every day; from waking up in the morning and seeing your self in the mirror, to walking down the street and seeing the interactions between plants, humans and animals. Nature is the basis of all things visual. Because the artist experiences life and nature daily, recording and communicating life should be part of their habits.
The study of the figure is a complex subject that involves capturing movement, gesture, structure, underlying form, and even emotion. All these elements in the end communicate the nature of a subject. By studying such a complex topic, it allows a person to expand their sensitivity to the visual world. In music, when you learn a piece written by old masters, you study many notations and techniques which become natural to you over time. Similarly, in drawing you study the fundamentals of art and design and the actualization of light and form. You get to a point where it’s subconscious; your brush stokes and drawing become spontaneous and intuitive.
Closing: Friends + Monsters
February 3, 2012
Clothesline Gallery, 529 S. Pineapple Avenue.
Sishirprithvi Bommakanti (born in India 1990) is a freelance illustrator, designer, and painter. His latest body of work combines conceptual compositions, figurative narratives, abstract geometry, and glitched imagery. According to the artist, the works serve to communicate and inquire. “Everything I do is carefully thought out,” says Sishir, “Nothing is guesswork.”
Video by Stephen McFadden
Friends + Monsters features prominent themes of destruction, construction, decay, and transience. Original paintings and prints will be on display, in addition to a projection-based installation.
For more information, call gallery owner Austin Kowal 941-724-6667 email clotheslinetees@gmail.com
