Sculptural Drawings

Anders Wahlstedt Fine Art is pleased to announce the exhibition “Sculptural Drawings,” a group show of works on paper by Mel Kendrick, John Newman and Chris Macdonald.

Mel Kendrick creates cast paper drawings by pressing a pigment-coated mold into a soft mass of wet pulp. The force of the press spreads the pigment into the paper and binds it. The result becomes a relief with weighty imprints reminiscent of aerial landscape scenes. The transparency of the pigments connects the overlapping shapes in his compositions. Kendrick says, “There’s a constant exchange that gives them an internal logic. When I make sculpture, it’s the same thing.”

Mel Kendrick’s work can be found in numerous permanent collections, including Art Institute of Chicago; Brooklyn Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Modern Art; National Gallery of Art; Storm King Art Center; Whitney Museum of American Art; & Walker Art Center.

John Newman’s drawings are investigations that lead to his sculptures with the same titles. He uses a variety of media, including collage, colored pencil, and chalk in these intricate studies. Newman will often draw before, during, and even after the related sculpture has been finished. He brings the viewer directly into his process of creation with the materiality of his drawings. Newman has said, “I am mostly interested in how certain materials (and processes) interact with others. I like to think of each component’s ‘fit’ as specific to the particular nature of each sculpture. It is not just a collection of unconnected elements.”

John Newman’s work can be found in numerous permanent collections, including Museum of Modern Art; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Tate Gallery; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Storm King Art Center; & Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Chris Macdonald uses oil crayon, pencil, and graphite to construct his drawings. These whimsical works on paper have a wonderful playfulness about them, and at the same time, the compositions create tension and a chaotic energy. The shapes themselves call to mind abstracted silhouettes and forms of construction vehicles in the vibrant colors one recalls from toy cars and trucks. “Machines interest me in a futuristic way. What type of machines will people of the future have to transport themselves? We all have our own ideas about this – my sculptures, drawings, and smaller works represent some of mine,” Macdonald has said. 

Chris Macdonald’s work can be found in numerous permanent collections, including Whitney Museum of American Art; Brooklyn Museum; Walker Arts Center; Corcoran Gallery of Art; Musee d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou; & Socrates Sculpture Park.

The show will run from January 28th through March 19th, 2016 with an opening reception on Thursday, January 28th 6-8PM. The artists will be present. ­­