DRAWING AS INVITATION
Carole Kim, Artist in Resident at AUTOMATA-LA
(June 18-July 13, 2021)
Drawing as:
Invitation
conversation
negotiation
seismic meditation
Each drawing was preceded by a conversation to identify a launching point. Sessions ran between 2 and 8 hrs, with most around 6. The unfolding process is an act of nurturing into a state of becoming. There’s this wonderful sense of bemused surprise, peculiarity of something manifesting on its own terms. The directness of drawing leaves a trail, a record of the intricacies of each improvisational dialogue. I am deeply moved and reassured by the power of such interaction and openness to experimentation.
I have a long term passion for improvisation as a heightened form of interaction. Usually this manifests in the multimedia work I do. This was the first time I focused on the act of collaborative drawing as improvisation. I found that because it is a slower medium that leaves a trace of every move, I was able to observe the process in a more tangible way.
SPECIAL THANKS to Automata-LA for this residency, to Kaoru Mansour for the donation of paper and to all the fabulous collaborators: Kira Vollman, Regine Verougstraete, Carrie Ungerman, Marie Thibeault, Alise Spinella, Eli Rosenkim, Odeya Nini, Nguyen Nguyen, Robin Mitchell, Alistair Milne, Dohee Lee, Alicia Gorecki, Vinny Golia, Susan Goldberg, Carmela Hermann Dietrich, Valerie Daval, Laura Cooper, Brenda Bynum, Ursula Brookbank, Lynne Berman.
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
1. Eli Rosenkim
It started with a reference to doodles during math class. Then beans met stones.
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
2. Alistair Milne
Throw of the die dictated the number of folds and imprints with a tiny stapler punctuating the process.
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
3. Robin Mitchell
C: looseness in looping. "The plural form of nexus is nexuses or nexus."
R: I brought a continuous line that I am currently exploring in my paintings. I was surprised and delighted how collaborating with Carole disrupted my process and opened new avenues of continuing.
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
4. Lynne Berman
C: Wrestling with the paper, the white rectangle yielded to this fleshy peculiar thing that found strength in our mending.
L: We started the paper with the big moves: Rupture, Mark and Rip and then changed the rhythm to reassemble and stitch. Carole had to kick me out as I would have stayed all night pushing threads through the paper.
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
5. Dohee Lee
Stick out your tongue and say, "Ah!"
Brushes were placed at the end of long sticks of bamboo. It felt a bit like playing pool.
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
6. Carrie Ungerman
goldenrod acid bath, atmosphere meets volatility.
Carole stuck to plant matter as brushes for this one. The hollyhock flower set these emanating bursts in motion. Carrie grabbed one color of pigment from her studio. Can you guess?
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
7. Marie Thibeault
We originally thought “stalactite meets stalagmite” but then ink bubbles insisted that we embrace the floating roundness of things.
M: This was a new and exciting experience for me and I had no expectations. Carole and I became acquainted during the flow and evolution of the drawing. Although we started with individual visions,we eventually partnered up to create a pathway for the drawing to be completed. I enjoyed the challenge, discovery and surprises along the way. I gained a new awareness and openness to the creative process.
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
8. Carmela Hermann Dietrich
Charcoal between Carmela’s toes became tentacles in a polka-dot skirt.
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
9. Brenda Bynum
seashells by the last shore meet suspended brain disassemblage in "Exhalation" by Ted Chiang
B: Seashells on a dry ocean floor. Crows walk around, checking things out, and determine there's nothing left for them on this planet. They take off and fly away to the stars, leaving behind their tracks in the sand. The anatomist in the story “Exhalation” engraves a message for a future reader, documenting his world as its balance shifts and its unavoidable end approaches. I loved sharing stories and ink and silver leaf with Carole.
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
10. Regine Verougstraete
dot encrustacean.
Pulling black from one end, white from the other, this creature unfurled.
R: artichoke flower brush, soft and prickly, black. Wide wood brush, soft, white. Bird feathers quills. How do white and black meet? Harmony grew out of total chaos. I hope to achieve that in my own life!
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
11. Alise Spinella
4 hands, 9 dipping wells
A: Even before meeting, Carole magically intuited my drawing process and proposed a surprising and joyful amplification. We tied our hands together, closed our eyes, and drew directly with our fingers on the paper, mapping breath and movement in real time. Wells of saturated charcoal and graphite, atmospheres connected with ikebana color shapes. And layered again.
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
12. Susan Goldberg
home 1, home 2 / bow 1, bow 2
S: We started with connection to each other, to what these times have meant for us, to exploration. I brought a movement sequence from the Amidah (Standing Prayer) of the Jewish tradition. Carole brought blue, hands and feet, liquid and a way in.
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
13. Kyra Vollman
“hairy purl”
Thinking of Kira’s wire knitting project in honor of all those who have fallen to COVID, I thought we’d knit our way to each other.
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
14. Laura Cooper
matriarchal doubling sequence
An ever-branching 1,2,4,8,16,32 sequence combined with an invisible resist that revealed itself with each stroke of ink. Laura and I are notorious for reveling in the conversational detail. A mandatory trip to the airport forced us into “beat the clock” mode to tie things together.
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
15. Nguyen Nguyen
planning the Garden: irrigating the margins. A brush suspended by four strings maneuvered by 4 hands
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
16. Alicia Gorecki
A map | not a map
Using Alicia’s recent road trip as our point of inspiration/reference we constructed this drawing as an abstracted memory of the experience.
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
17. Vinny Golia
Vinny is currently working on a magnum opus of compositions for orchestra and soloists. In preparation for creating visuals for a selection of these compositions, I invited Vinny to join me in making a collaborative drawing as a means of approach. We listened to this music with our eyes closed, drawing implements in each hand, to lay the groundwork for this complex drawing.
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
18. Odeya Nini
notation/rotation in 7 min intervals, submerged in magenta
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
19. Valerie Daval
Aquarium Chandelier
Printing leaves and painting with an onion flower.
DRAWING AS INVITATION
20 collaborators, 20 drawings, 20+ days
20. Ursula Brookbank
The red meditation string used to begin all the drawing sessions became our snap line tool. Perfect way to wrap up this series of collaborations.
DRAWINGS 2021
Gold Streaks
11x14"
ink, colored pencil, graphite
(detail) Gold Streaks
11x14"
ink, colored pencil, graphite
(detail) Gold Streaks
11x14"
ink, colored pencil, graphite
Capillary blue
11x14"
ink, colored pencil, graphite
(detail) Capillary blue
11x14"
ink, colored pencil, graphite
Evil Kitty
11x14"
ink, colored pencil, graphite
(detail) Evil Kitty
11x14"
ink, colored pencil, graphite
Coursing Red
11x14"
ink
(detail) Coursing Red
11x14"
ink
DRAWINGS 2020
fathoming the depths of denial
9x12"
ink
Buffer
9x12"
ink
More Buffer
9x12"
ink
Exhalation
9x12"
ink
"Exhalation" by Ted Chiang
"My consciousness could be said to be encoded in the position of these tiny leaves, but it would be more accurate to say that it was encoded in the ever-shifting pattern of air driving these leaves... Air is in fact the very medium of our thoughts. All that we are is a pattern of air flow. My memories were inscribed not as grooved on foil or even the position of switches, but as persistent currents of argon."
Lady Mondegreen
9x12"
ink
reading reference-->"You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why it Matters" by Kate Murphy
stereo cilia
Juul fishing for addictive behavior
9x12"
ink
"cat licking image of cooked chicken"
9x12"
ink
Capillary grain
11x14"
ink
Bark flow
11x14"
ink
"zucchini rondel" (not to be confused with roundel)
ABba abAB abbaA
9x12"
ink
"zucchini roundel" (not to be confused with rondel)
ABAR BAB ABAR
9x12"
ink
DRAWINGS 2019
"A seed will search..."
9x12"
ink
"A seed will search...2"
9x12"
ink
VOIDS
9x12"
ink
VOIDS
9x12"
ink
VOIDS
9x12"
ink
VOIDS
9x12"
ink
Voids
9x12"
ink
DIGITAL PRINTS
forest's edge: text
Granavollen, Norway
forest's edge: greenhouse
Granavollen, Norway
forest's edge: stump
Granavollen, Norway
forest's edge: comb
Granavollen, Norway
microscreen: greenhouse
microscreen: stump
microscreen: goblets
