Selections 22

Selections 22, featuring a startling array of works on paper by emerging artists, opened at The Drawing Center in 1983. Included in the exhibition were works by Roger Boyce, Robert Carvin, Jessica Diamond, Ming Fay, Mireille Gros, Michael Kessler, Roman Kujawa, Lillian Mulero, Mark Rogers, and Richard Vance. The artists hailed from California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Switzerland, as well as the New York metropolitan area. They had been selected through The Drawing Center's innovative Viewing Program, through which artists annually presented original work to staff members.

The Drawing Center defined drawing as any unique work on or of paper. Perhaps nothing in the exhibition illustrated the breadth of this definition more completely than the works of Ming Fay. These oversized, perfectly crafted sculptures of seeds and mollusks were fabricated out of paper pulp. In contrast, the small, quickly done notational drawings by Mireille Gros were more traditionally sketch-like, committing to paper codified snatches of gesture and movement. Richard Vance's romantic black-and-white drawings were lyrical studies of the female form, while Lillian Mulero explored sexual tensions by superimposing male nudes on decorative floral wallpaper.

Roger Boyce considered himself a disciple of the computer, using analogically generated imagery as inspiration. Roman Kujawa's images, drawn on translucent paper, came from black and white newspaper photographs and TV-screen pictures. By drawing on a translucent material, the artist was able to change backgrounds and recombine images in new compositions. Jessica Diamond's works were considerations of the human condition: characters called Peabrains represented frailty, helplessness, insignificance, and softness. Expressionistic drawings by Robert Carvin were preparations for paintings. Their subject matter was narrative, allegorical, and usually autobiographical. Mark Rogers's portraits were traditional in concept, but the subjects were anonymous faces found in newspapers and magazines. Michael Kessler utilized dramatic lighting in black and white pieces loosely based on natural forms and phenomena.

On Wednesday evening October 5, 1983, at 7:30 p.m., The Drawing Center presented a symposium in which all artists participated.