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international drawing annual 8 exhibition-in-print
online resource





John Swihart
Toledo, Ohio

johnswihart@bex.net


detail image

statement

It was a recurring dream almost 30 years after abandoning my art studies that caused my return to art.  My only intent was to remove the dream like a splinter from my mind's eye by exploring it in a drawing but the resulting artwork revealed something my 20 year old self had not considered.  The ability to achieve a goal is not predicted by the limits of skills so much as dictated by the depth of the commitment to apply them unflinchingly and with out reservation.  It was in this spirit that I re-launched my pursuit of drawing as a thought experiment where the act of drawing is a vehicle for discovery and the drawings are not the product but receipts for that effort.

Today, a dozen years later, my renderings seek to establish a modern iconography based on the immediacy of photographic realism interpreted by classical drawing.  Mixing the tones of brushwork with the line work of a pencil reflective white and light absorbing black pigments are strategically applied to create values that when moderated by the neutral paper, heighten the illusion of dimension.  The matrix of line and tone, black and white, pigment and paper invites closer inspection revealing the thinking and mark making tactics that do not allow the drawing to lose touch with its "drawingness".

bio

born: 1952, Fostoria, Ohio

selected group shows

Toledo Museum of Art: 94th Toledo Area Artist Show, Toledo, OH, 2013
Hudson Gallery: NOW WOW! 2, Sylvania, OH, 2012
Toledo Artist Club: People and Portraits Show, Toledo, OH, 2012
20 North Gallery: Walter Chapman Show, Toledo, OH

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