and in the gallery

Sketchers - drawings of men drawing
by Dan Becker



Opening Reception
Sunday March 30th, 2008    2-5pm
Mark I Chester studio   1229 Folsom St/SF
open by appointment thru May 4th, 2008
415-621-6294
 

Dan Becker is a hard core member of Gay Men's Sketch and Hot Draw! the gay male drawing groups that Mark I Chester hosts in his studio.  Dan has previously exhibited his sketches of the models who pose for the groups in About Face.

This time Dan exhibits his drawings of other sketchers while they are drawing.  While other sketchers are focused on the model, Dan sometimes focuses on the men drawing, making them art, while they are making the models art, in a sense turning the normal dynamic of 'artist draws the model' on its head.  While the models expect to be looked at and made into art, the artists doing the drawings expect that no one will be looking at them and making them into art.  Leave it to Dan, to break down this universal understanding.

Working in a liquid medium of pen and ink, brush and ink and gouache, Dan uses a surprisingly broad range of techniques from realistic documentation to emotional impressionism to capture these images of men looking down.  Dan's work has also inspired other sketchers in the group to do drawings of men drawing.  Dan's artistic explorations are as infectious as they are revealing.

Below are some examples of the sketchers in the show