Neo Deco – 03-12-22

Bristol Again

This graphite pencil drawing ‘Neo Deco – 03-12-22’ follows after a couple of colored pencil drawings. These were fun to do but I wanted to get back to basics and to me that has always been black and white. There was another reason too. Some months ago I drew ‘Art Deco Nude – 05-08-22’ on Ingres paper, which I didn’t use for a long time. Next to the love for Ingres I was a bit worried how my new Faber-Castell pencils would react on Bristol paper. I did a couple of tests then on demand of Brugman Art who gave me these to try out. Initially they felt a bit sticky on Bristol and a bit too smooth. Today I have to withdraw this statement and replace it with newer and better experiences.

Gradients

My major concern was whether I could get smooth tonal gradients such as the ones in my Roundism series. Now that I tried to combine Pitt Graphite Matt with Bristol I see I can. The gradients are just fine whereas I can blacken the paper even more than with regular graphite pencil. It is even susceptible for rubbing out. Furthermore it gives me the ability to find heftier expressions, covering the total tonal bandwith from pure black to pristine white.

Neo Deco

The artistic motif itself was yet another smashing Walter Bird photo. The last time I used one of his pictures was for Art Deco Nude – 23-08-22. My plan for the drawing at hand was not to experiment or be innovative. I only wanted to get the matt graphite pencils acquainted with Bristoll paper. Besides that I am still struggling with the direction I want my cubist style to move. For the time being I think it’s best to call it ‘Neo Deco’ as a sort of working title. In earlier statements I talked about the lack of craft I see in contemporary art or ideas for that matter. Makes me thing of what I want to express further. Do I have interesting ideas or narratives rather than sheer nifty deco-style formalism? Who can tell such a style stands out, in a world dominated by a flood of images?

Graphite pencil (Faber Castell Pitt Graphite Matt pencil 14B) drawing Talens Bristol paper (21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers