ELLSWORTH KELLY PLANT DRAWINGS
I have become enamored with the plant drawings of Ellsworth Kelly. These are simple outline drawings of various plant stalks and leaves. I guess what attracts me is their elemental simplicity. Mr. Kelly’s rigorous abstraction has great innocence.
This is not the first time that I have used Ellsworth Kelly’s work as inspiration. A previous page using Mr. Kelly’s work as a form generator can be found here.
My drawing above, which I did yesterday morning, is one of a series that I have suddenly found myself working on. It takes these very simple outline shapes as a starting point, three shapes, to be exact. There is both a vertical and horizontal projection from these three forms, or shapes. And then I pay attention to how these forms might intersect.
And out of this exercise I get a unique sort of form assembly. All sides of the forms are depicted. I took a bit of improvisational license to draw in various folds to the forms. And the intersection of the forms is shown in the darker tone.
What I see when I look at my drawing is a very simple and free organic flow to the forms. I see somewhat surprising intersections. And given that I have I think a natural focus on curvilinear and organic forms, my drawing speaks to me at least.
Is this a building? Not as drawn. But like I said I find myself working on some sort of series. And I am folding in versions in which this could be a more building like envelope.
The projection of the drawing above is something on the order of a modified one point perspective. Although the spatial rationalization is not rigorous. I have no idea where the vanishing point really is. When setting up drawings, I find it fun to sort of draw at an established construction method, without adhering to all of the rules.
So lovely. At first I thought it might be the inner structure, even cellular level, of some vegetation, though it almost, wonderfully, floats….Angular, translucent even lucent.
And for once, an explanation of how something was created–probably because it was made by the artist & also; an articulate one–helped me begin to understand your construction of it, which must surely be like a poet’s grasp of the natural world interpreted in lines; yours looks like music.