Crateart Drawings

A few days ago I was with a friend of mine who had suggested to me that I donate a few drawings to the Drawing Center’s “Night of a Thousand Drawings” (http://www.drawingcenter.org). For those who do not know, the “Night of a Thousand Drawings” is an opportunity for young artists to donate work to a non-profit gallery in Soho. The drawings must be on paper and must be under a certain size, but other than that, no drawing is refused. Each drawing is then sold for $35-50, and those drawings not sold are either discarded or returned to the artist. So, my buddy tells me I should donate a few drawings and my response was that I did not have any new drawings. All the drawings I had were pre-Crateart. My friend then asked me what a Crateart drawing would look like.

Later, the next day, I found myself asking the same question. What does Crateart drawing look like? The minimum amount of time I have spent creating anything has been about 100 hours. I set out to work a few drawings just to see. The “Noel as Zeus” piece becomes so tiring after a few hours anyway, and a break to do some fast paced sketches seemed a good idea. It is strange to stop doing drawings and then all of a sudden make them again.

After about ten really horrible drawings I found something that I liked. I made a little drawing of Evelyn, my wife, on wallpaper with Sharpie Marker, Crayola, and 18k gold leafing pen. It was so much fun that when I finished I made another drawing using the same technique. The next day, I made a couple more. Then it seemed that I was doing one every time I would go to my studio.

So now, I have this beautiful set of drawings and I do not want to donate them anymore. Today I began a large scale drawing in the same style. It seems these drawings have really got a hold on me, so expect to see more and more emerge on this blog.

Aside from the drawings, “Noel as Zeus” and “Booner as Mary Monroe” are coming along great. The great Fruit Loop piece is still holding on some important research, but I will be taking care of that tomorrow.

The drawing images are titled with black Sharpie Marker on the lower right: “ Picture of Evie”, “Portrait of Matt the Fog”, Portrait of Adam Brumely”, “Portrait of Imogen Szalla”, “Adam’s First Visit to the Ocean”, and “Lawrence Laser Babes”. The image below that shows the new piece I have started in scale proportion to the rest. I have not decided on a price for any of these drawings, but I imagine they will be for sell for about $50 each after I complete a full set. If anyone would like to reserve one, please send me an email (info@crateartist.com).

I will be gone for the next week. I am going to San Francisco to visit my brother Dustin and his family. Keep on Cratearting.

-M