an exploratory exercise with my first-year drawing students at the National Art School in Sydney…
outdoors, at a long narrow bitumen-surfaced circulation space between buildings on campus, students were asked to each select a socially-distanced location – their instruction was to stay on that spot and spend time drawing lines radiating around their body…
I asked that they only draw straight lines, either directly away from or towards their body – the exercise is not about each student being ‘creative’ (though of course, each will find ways to express their individuality), it is about applying a simple rule, with discipline and focus, such that each person contributes to a larger collective drawing that occupies and transforms a banal transit area and parking space…
the exercise was repeated with three different classes over three days, gradually building the collective drawing – others on campus saw it growing and wondered ‘what’s going on?’ – of course, people also walked and drove vehicles there, as usual…
many students and passers-by said the drawings reminded them of ‘The Virus’, others mentioned dandelions, coral, flowers and hanabi (japanese fireworks)…
the weekend after making the drawings, rain washed everything away, erasing the drawings and returning the space to ’normal’, but with memories of the drawings added…
Gary Warner
b.1957. Lives and works in Sydney, Australia.
Gary Warner is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, collaborator and writer who teaches experimental drawing at the National Art School in Sydney, Australia. He builds drawing machines and sonic-kinetic installations, and makes digital video and performance works. From a lifelong practice in sound art and field recording Gary Warner launches his podcast Sonic Sketchbooks in early 2021. He is custodian of 10 hectares of off-grid native forest on Bidjigal country north-west of Sydney, conserving it against development, and has visited Japan often since the late 1980s when he presented Australian video art at Tokyo’s Scan Gallery.
an exploratory exercise with my first-year drawing students at the National Art School in Sydney…
outdoors, at a long narrow bitumen-surfaced circulation space between buildings on campus, students were asked to each select a socially-distanced location – their instruction was to stay on that spot and spend time drawing lines radiating around their body…
I asked that they only draw straight lines, either directly away from or towards their body – the exercise is not about each student being ‘creative’ (though of course, each will find ways to express their individuality), it is about applying a simple rule, with discipline and focus, such that each person contributes to a larger collective drawing that occupies and transforms a banal transit area and parking space…
the exercise was repeated with three different classes over three days, gradually building the collective drawing – others on campus saw it growing and wondered ‘what’s going on?’ – of course, people also walked and drove vehicles there, as usual…
many students and passers-by said the drawings reminded them of ‘The Virus’, others mentioned dandelions, coral, flowers and hanabi (japanese fireworks)…
the weekend after making the drawings, rain washed everything away, erasing the drawings and returning the space to ’normal’, but with memories of the drawings added…
Gary Warner
b.1957. Lives and works in Sydney, Australia.
Gary Warner is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, collaborator and writer who teaches experimental drawing at the National Art School in Sydney, Australia. He builds drawing machines and sonic-kinetic installations, and makes digital video and performance works. From a lifelong practice in sound art and field recording Gary Warner launches his podcast Sonic Sketchbooks in early 2021. He is custodian of 10 hectares of off-grid native forest on Bidjigal country north-west of Sydney, conserving it against development, and has visited Japan often since the late 1980s when he presented Australian video art at Tokyo’s Scan Gallery.
garywarner.net
fieldwork.show
cdpmedia.com.au
instagram :@garylwarner
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