Broadly Speaking

This cooperative venture, in which six artists were challenged to create paperworks using a large-scale press, has provoked unusually imaginative responses that deepen our understanding of their work and broaden the definition of Drawing.

Within the group, Sara Sosnowy’s two pieces vary the most in scale: one measures 40” x 30” and the other 15” square. Also unusual in this group is the relative invisibility of her paper, although its material construction was essential to the formation of her horizontal pattern. Cotton strings were laid on a base of black cotton paper in soft, close waves; in their interstices, Sosnowy painted rows of perfect small gold circles. In their precision and metallic hardness, the disks lend a sense of tautness to the easy undulations of the strings.

For all their intricacy and delicacy, each overall field has a strong, single tone. A sense of calm order prevails. The golden rounds recall commemorative medals, adding a sense of ceremony to Sosnowy’s gentle, articulate and welcome voice.

An obsessiveness of a different kind animates Elena del Rivero’s program—a deeply feminine, psychological investigation of domestic and work spaces and of a thoroughfare. The series title is taken from a disapproving medieval French phrase, Elle sort beaucoup (She goes out a lot).

The intricacy of del Rivero’s concepts is well matched by the complexity of her processes. It would be difficult to exaggerate the degree of control exercised here. All aspects, including the making of each sheet of abaca paper, the watermarks, and the letterpress printing, seem as finely tuned as it is possible to be. But they are not the whole story. At a certain point, the artist exposed The Studio, The Bed, The Table, and The Street to outside experience, and to chance. For example, The Table, printed with a holiday week’s menus, was used as a tablecloth for those meals. The Bed was slept upon, and its rips later repaired using an artful 12th century method.