Drawing VI

Thematically focused on drawing, Aski Dahl's work engages in reflective investigations of the medium. In (Title), the drawing is transmitted from the surface of the paper, extended into the room. Black shapes and lines composes the drawing within the space, veiled behind a large semitransparent sheet. The sheet effects the visibility of the objects behind it, revealing detail or smudging and fading with distance. Its flat, symmetrical surface operates as the pictorial plane of the image, displaying a tangible impression of facing a large, classical drawing. The monochromatic hues of the black shapes appear like the recognizable marks of ink or a pencil on paper, though when simultaneously demonstrating depth and sculpturality, a visual double-exposure occurs, raising a tension between two- and three-dimensionality. The experience of the metaphorical nature of the work relies on the movement and gaze of the viewer. As the viewer engages with the work, it consequently formulates new propositions on what drawing and image is or can be.

Artistic Statement

Combining theoretical research with an exploratory approach to my studio practice, I seek to understand the nature and potentials of drawing. Questioning its conventional definitions allows me to expand its territories. Working cross-boundary in varied materials and methods, I exert drawing in different elements, connected through conceptual key signifiers such as 'intention', 'composition' and 'making a mark'. Drawing in the extended field, off of the surface of the paper, I emphasize aspects of drawing dealing with f.ex. spatial presence, the gesture of making the mark, and the function of the line and the field. Considering drawing a form of language; a way of conveying and receiving information, the relation between the viewer and the work is a central interest to me. How an image is read, how we decide what constitutes an image, and how this may be reviewed and developed. Tracing the operations of drawing, I work attentively with scale, materiality and visual ambiguity to challenge the viewer's perception.