‘Drawings’ Show Outlines Attitudes, Process, Ideas

Marti Koplin is fascinated by the ways artists express themselves through drawing: Some do loose, preliminary sketches; others, tightly structured, highly rendered finished works.

“Drawings show the bones of the artist,” the Koplin Gallery director said. “You can see an awful lot from them--the immediacy and the artist’s touch.”

As artist John Nava said in a recent talk at the gallery: “Line is a very human mental concept. From a collection of abstract marks, we see very sensual, identifiable forms. Drawing has the capacity to accept a lot of different attitudes and ideas.”

To reflect her enthusiasm for the medium, Koplin presented her first group show of drawings last summer. It was so well-received among artists and patrons alike that she decided to make a drawing show an annual event.

Hence “Drawings II,” which includes almost 100 works of dizzily different styles and techniques by 50 artists. Many of them are represented by her gallery. Others are artists around the country she has been watching since opening her gallery in 1982.

The works of Rico Lebrun and Howard Warshaw have been prominently displayed near the entrance. “When I think of drawing, I think of those people. They really represent what drawing is all about,” Koplin said. “They are so process-oriented. You can see their thinking processes.”

Nancy Pierson continues to explore the nature of women’s interactions in large, enigmatic depictions such as “Mothercare” and “Chain.” The women of “Chain” make up a vertical chain in which each woman holds in her hands the head of the woman below her.

“She uses the gesture incredibly beautifully, which really comes through in drawings,” Koplin said. “I like her themes and the way she draws.”

Hughie Lee-Smith, an 82-year-old artist who lives in New Jersey, created three drawings specifically for the show, including a self-portrait. “Jazz” and “Student” delicately convey the ambience of the street. In “Student,” an innocent girl sits in front of a building’s classical column that has been marked with graffiti. Koplin said Lee-Smith usually incorporates architectural elements in his work.

Avigdor Arikha’s intimate portraits of women exemplify an unconfined style of drawing. “There’s a softness and gentleness to his work. They are not so highly realistic, but certainly representational. He’s captured the essence of the person with an economy of line,” Koplin said. “When I saw this work in New York, I had to have it for the show.”

With an absolute minimum of lines in his ink-on-paper portrait “Henry and Eugene,” David Hockney depicts true expressions of real people, rendering details down to the ring on Henry’s finger.

Mark Wethli pulls you into the scenes of “Under a Northern Sky” and “Studio Door” with his absorbing use of light and darkness. The gradations and texture of Bill Vuksanovich’s monumental, stylized drawing, “Schoolgirl,” belie the innocence that might be associated with a uniformed girl carrying schoolbooks. Instead, a haunting, “Exorcist”-like sensation emanates from her.

John Frame had never exhibited his drawings before last year’s show. “Last year, we showed two drawings from his sketchbook,” Koplin said. “It opened up another door for him. This year, his drawings are more complete and highly rendered, and he combined his sculpture with them.”

The three drawings by Wes Christensen, containing small interpersonal dramas, came directly from his sketchbook. Theophilus Brown contributed two drawings from 1982--a man and a woman, both seated and nude--that he enhanced in 1991.

James Valerio, who is known for his figures, has created the most meticulously detailed vision of leaves and plants in “Edge of the Garden.” Janet Tholen, who usually does three-dimensional paintings, has rendered eerie views of Los Angeles. Oil derricks mingle with palm trees in “Nocturne I.” “Nocturne II” shows a helicopter shining its searchlight on a landscape littered with power lines.

WORKSHOP: For the last seven years, artist Jacqueline Dreager has had a studio on Skid Row, not far from the Homeless Outreach Program where she conducts an art workshop.

Every Thursday afternoon, one female and six male residents of the community, known collectively as Group Tattoo, gather to learn how to mix colors and choose appropriate brushes, have discussions, embark on trips to MOCA or a printmaking workshop, or make painting and sketching field trips with Dreager.

“It’s art for art’s sake, done for themselves to please them,” Dreager said about her students’ work.

One can see some of the heartfelt paintings, prints and mixed-media works by members of the group in the show “Faces: Selections From Group Tattoo” at the Art Store Gallery on Beverly Boulevard near La Brea Avenue.

Organized by Dreager, the show presents images that run the gamut from a ghostly gauze-and-plaster death mask to a piece titled “The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of.” More than one of Dreager’s students have chosen to create a likeness of her.

The artists in the group are Ed Boyd, Stanley Nelson, Pat Perkins, Ricardo Porter, Jason Rossilli, Memo Vera and Anonymous.

“They show me another side of life, a humanity that is less fortunate, but very viable and creative,” Dreager said. “The workshop helps give them a voice because they have a lot to say.”

CUP ART: A visit to Beth Changstrom’s show “Ceramics and Mixed-Media Constructions” at Kurland/Summers Gallery feels like an afternoon break in a coffeehouse.

Some of her celebratory still-life images of cups have been painted on wood or on canvas and other fabrics stretched over a wood block. Others integrate actual ceramic cups into a painted picture.

Whatever the combination of materials, the constructions evoke the pleasure inherent in relaxing with a good cup of coffee or tea, either alone or with a friend. Several of the pieces illustrate cups in pairs.

Changstrom obviously enjoys playing with the cup shape. Her renditions range from the more classic and genteel style of “My Aunt’s Cup” to the stout, free-form mugs of “Twisted Sisters.” “Flying Saucers” recalls the mad teacups whirling around in Disneyland.

Accompanying the cups are Changstrom’s dreamy images of hats. They could make any woman who abhors hats eager to put one on and go out for a spot of tea.