Laurie Fendrich "Drawings from the South of France"
Gary Snyder Project Space
This event has ended.
Gary Snyder/Project Space presents an exhibition from a remarkable suite of drawings by Laurie Fendrich.
The 33 abstract drawings were done by Ms. Fendrich while she was in residence on a Brown Foundation Fellowship, awarded through the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, at the Dora Maar House in Ménerbes—one of the “perched” villages in the south of France. The residence took place for five weeks in May and June, 2009. During that time, Ms. Fendrich worked in the one artist’s studio in the house to create this series of abstract drawings in the style characteristic of her paintings: vigorous, aggressive shapes, emphatic compositions, and bold use of dark and light. The drawings are done in that most difficult of media in which there’s no correcting or erasing and one false move can ruin an entire drawing—black conté crayon on stippled paper.
The house in which Ms. Fendrich created these drawings was given as a gift by Picasso to Dora
Maar, an artist and photographer who was his companion in the late 1930s and 1940s. Dora Maar
owned the house until her death in 1997, when a resident of both Ménerbes and Houston purchased and renovated the house; the residency Fellowships were established shortly afterwards.
“These were probably the best conditions for working I’ve ever experienced,” says Ms. Fendrich. “The studio was beautifully proportioned, the light was perfect—windows looking north toward the mountains, and east into the garden and its fountain—and there were no distractions or interruptions except for walks around the village. Somehow, the landscape and architecture deeply inspired me and it occurred to me early on that I just might be able to complete a drawing a day. In the end, I did, although when I was finished I felt like my hand might fall off.”
[Image: Laurie Fendrich "Untitled #27" (2009) conté crayon on Arches paper, 17 x 14 in.]
Media
Schedule
from November 04, 2009 to December 19, 2009