Back to basics
Drawing is increasingly perceived as so much more than a mere preliminary support for a work of art. Now universally accepted in collections as finished works, drawings can capture and express an instinctive appreciation: a spontaneous record of will. Drawing reveals all; it can neither mask interpretation nor the intimate depths of our subconscious. A drawing cannot conceal flaws or failures in an artist’s technique. Surely, drawing has to be the most candid form of expressing how we perceive “our” world.
To a large extent, my project entails reclaiming drawing in the presence of the model. By using the most rudimentary stylus, charcoal, I intend to coax the image into revealing the subjective reality of the performer, which – in theory – the objectiveness of a photograph denies. Live drawing encapsulates millions of seconds amassed one after the other; while a photograph seizes a portrait of an instant.
Nevertheless I came across a serious difficulty: the scant availability of children’s posing time. At times I needed to work for more than eight hours straight. Sometimes, therefore, I had to resort to using photographic images. I quickly appreciated the difference between photography and live drawing. At the end of the day, the biggest difference was that, unlike a photograph, a sitter moved. Yet the challenges drawing set remain: line, light, rhythm, routes and coherence. In reality, solving plastic problems takes greater priority than seeking resemblance.
I made initial drawings from the sitter and, if I needed to use photographs, I took several shots when the sitting finished so I could continue to draw. Children readily took on the typical bored expression so often seen in great historical portraits
I felt that enlarging the scale would also strain the faithfulness to the model even though scale was fundamental to my project. Creating gigantic child figures enabled me to alter a spectator’s normal perception. By conferring a solemnity and mystery intrinsic to adults, I managed to release the images from the conventional portrayal of children. Dressed up and huge, the subjects seem timeless, making it impossible to slot them into a specific time or place that, iconographically, relates the figures to the historical portraits conveying power, wealth and wisdom.
Drawing, which at the outset provided a framework to complement an oil painting, now took center stage. Swapping oil paints, I used charcoal and felt the drawings had to be as “charcoaled” as possible. This represented my biggest challenge as reclaiming what lies beneath an oil painting is a process I believe I am just beginning to come to terms with.
Ximena Cousiño
