It is time artist Suzanne Lacy learns to draw, and in this nine-day installation at The Drawing Center, artist Andrea Bowers attempts to rectify this essential artistic illiteracy in Lacy’s oeuvre. Andrea Bowers and Suzanne Lacy: Drawing Lessons consists of drawing lessons provided by Bowers over the course of nine days as a platform for conversations; resultant drawings; video projection; and the installation of the lesson environment—lights, platform, drawing easels, etc. As they work together under scrutiny of the audience, Bowers and Lacy explore in work and conversation questions they engage with in their practices in general. For example: what are the roles and problematics of representation in public practice art? How do artists reconcile activist and field-based practices with the necessities of production for galleries and museums? What is the relationship between second and third wave Feminism? What is the role of venue, object, and style in the identification, historification, and evaluation of art? As this is an intensive and actual attempt to teach Lacy to draw, lessons last four hours per day with drawing practice in between sessions for a total of six hours per day.
Produced by Claire Gilman, Curator and Nova Benway, Curatorial Assistant
Andrea Bowers and Suzanne Lacy: Drawing Lessons is made possible through the generous support of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation’s Artistic Innovation and Collaboration Program, which supports risk-taking and innovative collaborations in the spirit of Robert Rauschenberg.
Taxidermy and other props generously provided by Creel and Gow, and The Evolution Store.
