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5/11/2009

Tom Wesselmann

Haunch of Venison, New York

Haunch of Venison New York will present Tom Wesselmann 'Draws', the most comprehensive exhibition of drawings by the artist that has ever been assembled. The exhibition, which was originally organized by the artist in 2003, will cover drawings from his entire career 1959-2004. Most of the works come directly from the estate and the family of Tom Wesselmann.

"Some supporters have urged me to put together a drawing show because I have never had a major drawing show. The project interests me from another point of view in that I have made drawings in ways more adventurous than what many envision as a drawing show. The scope of the show will be to present a well edited selection of the best drawings available covering the full range of my varied production. I don't view the show as delineated by decades in any way, but as a continuity of drawings as they occurred.

I drew more in the Sixties than in the Seventies as I was searching for my self in my art. The Sixties, for me, was a decade of intense exploration in many directions. In the Seventies, I was largely following on that momentum. My mission was largely aimed at pushing my work into many new areas, such as shaped canvas, 3-D, assemblage, TV's, on plastic, illuminated, and others in pursuit of my underlying intent to make representational art as exciting to me as Abstract Expressionism was in my student days. Fresh out of art school in 1959, inexperienced and totally new to art, 28 years old and very naive, I totally trusted my eye and my hand. As a consequence, I did a number of drawings that were confident and certain. That was a specific and unique first body of work. I have almost always disliked drawing nudes because it is so frustrating; the woman's beauty invariably was impossible to match.

I have always used drawings as a necessary part of my paintings and my paintings are almost always an outgrowth of drawing. In the Sixties, among various approaches, I did charcoal drawings on the backside of formed plastic, some illuminated, some not, used multiple layers of charcoal on canvas, sealed and varnished like an oil painting and with the look and feel of an oil, and drew on 3-D elements to make drawing have a more sculptural reality.

In the Seventies and early Eighties, my drawing was not as experimental but was still vital in the process of my painting. In the mid Eighties through the Nineties, drawing went through profound change for me-as though the Sixties had returned in spirit.

The biggest departure in my work was in laser cut steel. The original premise was to make drawings in steel as though they magically had just been drawn in steel. All of the act of drawing was still present: the spontaneity, the false lines etc. At that time, sophisticated computer-laser technology was not yet available but slowly came along to assist my intentions. The steel line drawings looked like they were drawn on the wall and I was intrigued by the fact that you could pick up a drawing by the lines and hold it.

In the late Nineties and to the present, drawing continues to play a vital role as part of my paintings. My newest works on canvas begin with a drawing, brush and oil on the canvas, either from the model, or more recently from my head. When the oil on the canvas drawing is dry, I over-paint it with the full image so that the bones of the drawing show through to one extent or another, depending on translucency, etc. I see a show that will enlarge the common perception of what a drawing is to a surprising and rewarding degree."
Tom Wesselmann
New York City 9/18/2003

Image: Study for Great American Nude, 1964. Pencil and liquitex on paper 8.75 x 11.63

Haunch of Venison New York
1230 Avenue of the Americas Between 48th and 49th Street 20th Floor New York, NY 10020
Hours: 10.00-18.00 Tue - Sat
Or by appointment

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