Christopher Taggart: Performance Drawings

Performance Drawings was a series of five short solo exhibitions, taking place in The Drawing Center's exhibition space at 40 Wooster Street. The series presented the work of artists engaged in exploring the intersection between drawing and performance. Several of the performances encouraged audience interaction and the series as a whole offered a unique opportunity to encounter process-oriented and multi-disciplinary works.

An artist from Berkeley California, Christopher Taggart offered a different take on drawing and performance: he created drawing machines using a complex yet elegant combination of devices, such as magnets, wiring, plastic, pens, and motors. Taggart's work was a mechanical draftsman, timed to start and finish a drawing during the course of the exhibition. As the machine worked, it was affected by aspects of the drawn surface that likewise had ramifications for the human hand, such as the texture of the paper and the build up of ink. By creating a situation that was both automated and touched by chance, Taggart undermined the tradition of the "unique mark" upon which the history of drawing was founded.

To accompany Performance Drawings, The Drawing Center published Drawing Papers 21, which included an introduction by The Drawing Center Director, Catherine de Zegher, alongside essays by Elizabeth Finch and Tom McDonough. Also included were texts and projects by the artists, and a selection of black-and-white illustrations of the artists' works.