Cyberoptix Tie Lab

Two really exciting (quite contrary to how it may sound, I was afraid this would be rather dull but was very pleasantly surprised) concurrent drawing shows are now on view at Cranbrook Art Museum. Unfortunately the works featured in the press release are not my personal favorites, (but it isn't my place to really have an opinion) - regardless, there are some incredible works by Eva Hesse, John Cage, Stellarc and many others that really give insightful quips into the process of making large scale works or performnaces. Refreshingly, there are process drawings for major works of art done on the backs of postcards and wee scraps of paper - reinforcing the fact that the best plans are always initiated on a bar napkin.



Top 40! Sculptors’ Drawings from the Collection of Tom and Kitty Stoner - through November 5, 2006.

The drawings included in the exhibition, "Top 40! Sculptors’ Drawings from the Collection of Tom and Kitty Stoner", provide a rare look into the working processes of sculptors and survey the historical styles of major 20th-century art movements. Inspired by the concept of a radio station play list, the exhibition features 40 drawings by 40 distinguished European and American sculptors of the past 100 years. Among the works featured in the exhibition are drawings by Pablo Picasso, Alexander Archipenko, Constantin Brancusi, Alberto Giacometti, Donald Judd, Richard Serra, Eva Hesse and Jeff Koons. Marking the beginning of the creative process, some of the works are preparatory, including Jean Dubuffet’s "Character with a Hat", which preceded realized sculptures. Other works in the show, including an untitled drawing by Sol LeWitt, are plans of a technical nature, and while still others are studies of the relationship between form and space.


Artists at Work: Instruction Drawings from the Collection of Gilbert and Lila Silverman - through October 29, 2006.

At what point in the creative process does a work become an artwork? Artist’s at Work illuminates the nature of art by focusing on the creative process---offering insight into the artist’s eventful path and phases in the production of artworks. The exhibition includes over 180 examples of instruction drawings in a variety of forms, such as working drawings, installation instructions, musical scores, sketches, visual or textual memoranda, fabrication notes, and work records. Drawn from Gilbert and Lila Silverman Collection of nearly 800 instruction drawings, Artists at Work features works by the leading and celebrated figures of Pop Art, Op Art, Conceptual Art and Earth Art from 1930 to the present. Artists featured in the exhibition include: Robert Rauschenberg, Sol Lewitt, Yoko Ono, Roy Lichtenstein, Dennis Oppenheim, Christo, Robert Gober, Dan Flavin and Claes Oldenburg, Robert Mangold, Andy Goldswork, Vito Acconci, Tom Wesselman.