Drawn from Photography, on view in the Main Gallery from February 18–March 31, 2011, showcases 13 artists who use drawing to meticulously translate images originally received through photo-based media or digital circulation. Drawings feature scenes of social transformation from the last two centuries including scenes of war and protest as well as views of urban landscapes and industrial developments. Whether using found media sources or their own snapshots, the artists share a reconstructive, labor-intensive impulse that counteracts the rapid dissemination of information that defines the media age.

More than any other art form, drawing is traditionally understood to be an inherently intimate and direct means of expression. Although recreating images first made by a camera’s impersonal lens may appear to counter the drawn gesture’s authorial imprint, the work in Drawn from Photography can be seen as embodying its own kind of agency. In this presentation, personal attention and slowing down oppose the experience of alienation in a world increasingly mediated by technological representation. Drawing as translation–at once utterly individual and fundamentally egoless–privileges time spent, care, and attention as forms of commitment in their own right.

The artists in the exhibition adopt a variety of approaches to their subjects. Emily Prince and Mary Temple create evolving installations that respond to contemporary events like the war in Iraq; Andrea Bowers, Sam Durant, D-L Alvarez, and Frank Selby replicate iconic photos of political clashes and counter-cultural movements; Fernando Bryce comprehensively redraws historical documents; and Ewan Gibbs and Richard Forster copy their own snapshots of the changing, industrial landscape. In each case, drawing as translation marks a desire for agency coupled with a sense of the distance between “reality out there” and the artist’s attempt to comprehend or impact it.

ARTISTS: D-L Alvarez, Andrea Bowers, Fernando Bryce, Sam Durant, Ewan Gibbs, Karl Haendel, Richard Forster, Serkan Özkaya, Emily Prince, Frank Selby, Paul Sietsema, Mary Temple, Christian Tomaszewski