Artwork

Excavation Drawings

Hôtel de la Montagne, Montreal, as part of VIVA! Art Action, Oct. 10-15, 2006.

This performance-installation took place in hotel room over the course of a week. I began by completely covering the room in newsprint paper to protect it. Wearing pyjamas, I drew with charcoal and performed various actions that centered around the act of drawing. People were invited to visit the room for 4 hours each day, witnessing the many transformations that took place within each drawing. The piece was silent, however I at times interacted with the public through gestures or writing. The piece grew out of a desire to escape everyday life responsibilities in order to focus solely on drawing. It explored personal/historical themes while interweaving paradoxes of the particular context (home/transience, solitude/sharing, cleanliness/earthiness, etc.). Particular gestures were repeated, such as lying on my side and then reaching towards a drawer, where I had hidden walnuts, which I would periodically crack open, eat and share with the audience.

Materials: charcoal, watercolour paper, newsprint, eraser, walnuts.