Elena del Rivero: 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.

The final exhibition in the series featured a project that was the result of a year-long performance by Elena del Rivero, an artist from Spain who was living in New York at the time. Documenting her life in her home and studio, the work incorporated a variety of media, central to which were sheets of 60" x 40" abaca (banana fiber) paper, fabricated for the artist by Dieu Donné Papermill. These large sheets were installed on the floors of del Rivero's studio and home, and were literally underfoot for the majority of the year, prior to their removal for the laborious process of mending. The exhibition also featured additional works which emerged from this project, including a "reference library," and a recording that mixed the sounds produced during the creation of the project.

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.