Ryan  Sluggett

*There Are Those* is an attempt to look more deeply at the process of drawing and those reasons to draw. Why are we seeing so much drawing, why are we interested in it and how are artists using it? The medium of drawing holds a particular place in the hierarchy of the arts. It is a method for sketching, a way to solve problems, a mode of research, a part of a larger practice, and a place to begin. Historically, drawing is seen as supplementary more than definitive. It is traditionally distinguished as being made with a pencil, pen, charcoal, marker, or crayon, usually consisting of lines, patterns or shading. Drawings are typically presented in intimate spaces often hung close together to bring in the viewer. *There Are Those* includes a small selection of Vancouver-based artists who use drawing as part of a larger process of working, but who also set it apart for its specificities, using it in a particular way, as a means to slow down their thinking process. All the works in this exhibition are labored, generally overdrawn. They have a slightly obsessive character, either through exhaustive detail, repetitive gestures or the obvious working and reworking of a motif. All the works make reference to historical material, either stylistically or thematically, but all the artists have very different approaches to the process. What brings them together is their reliance on drawing a way to come to terms with their subject matter, as a process for acquiring knowledge.

A graphite drawing of fly-fishing hooks arranged in a grid. Beneath each drawing is handwritten text. 

thumbnail_00-HEADER-ThereAreThose.jpg

00-HEADER-ThereAreThose.jpg

Three separation walls are placed inside a gallery. Various drawings are mounted on those walls. Three of those are figurative abstract paintings. There are two black and white human drawings. 

thumbnail_01-ThereAreThose-2007.jpeg

01-ThereAreThose-2007.jpeg

Ten drawings are mounted on the gallery walls. There is a set of three black and white portraits of people wearing suits. A set of five drawings show dots drawn on white sheets of paper. 

thumbnail_02-ThereAreThose-2007.jpeg

02-ThereAreThose-2007.jpeg

Six drawings are mounted on the gallery walls. The set of three coloured drawings on the left depicts people sitting inside. The other set of drawings show figures which look like a design of a dorm. 

thumbnail_03-ThereAreThose-2007.jpeg

03-ThereAreThose-2007.jpeg

Four drawings are mounted on a gallery wall. A set of three coloured drawings depict sculptures made of geometric shapes. There is also a black and white drawing of a child sitting at a table. 

Ryan Sluggett

Exhibitions