Prescott Lassman
Untitled

In the summer of 2007, their mutual interest in an overlap of processes and thematic concerns led to a collaborative residency at a small artists' community in Pennsylvania. There, together, they made nearly seventy drawings over three weeks' time. The residency yielded not only a new body of work, but also lent clarity to their individual processes and revealed a model for thinking, making, and working, in an environment of mutual respect. During that time, their separate processes - indeed, their identities - were fused into something new that has become a meditation on the act of exchange, process and conversation. As their collaboration continues, the ongoing progress of the series serves to indicate new directions for their individual and collaborative bodies of work.

Using techniques both planned and impromptu, and taking turns approaching the surface, each artist makes both marks that are familiar from her individual practice, and new ones that reference the other's. Containing all manner of marks and materials (varied hues of ink, washes of gouache, repeated gestures made with sharp pencil points, more delicate ones made with conté crayon), the works retain individual identities while also functioning as part of a larger whole. When viewed together, the "Potential Energy" series unfolds much like a book or a conversation-a narrative of exchange and negotiation, full of discussions, arguments, moments of pushing and pulling, and, finally, resting.

The project raises the question of potential - what kind of energy is possible? How does that energy change when it is transferred from one hand to another? Where (if at all) does the energy stop? And if it does not stop, where does it lead? As the drawings unfold, as if flowing out of their individual and collective consciousness, it becomes clear that humans can communicate volumes through physical acts. This project harnesses that potential for communication and evidences true exchange, focusing on the physical and social significance of the act of making - and making together.

The collaboration on view includes small, medium, and large-scale works on paper. Works by the individual artists are available to view in the flat files for comparison and contemplation. McGraw works her drawings heavily and physically, gouging graphite into the paper surface in acts of excavation and catharsis. Tarantino uses her breath as a tool for mark-making, blowing water-based paints and inks through a straw to tease marks into existence.

McGraw and Tarantino will be collaborating on a large-scale wall drawing project at Flashpoint in Spring 2009.

Image Above: McGraw & Tarantino, No. 64, ink, gouache, graphite stick, pencil, and conté crayon on paper, 76" x 55", 2007