By Frank Shifreen
The most important thing you have, the one thing you cannotlose, is your naivate- Henri Matisse
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a childand acted in childish ways. When I became a man, I put away childishthings. Now we see
through a glass darkly- Paul, I Corinthians
As an artist grows older, he has to fight disillusionment,and learn to establish the same relation to nature that he hadas a child- Charles Burchfield
We must select the illusion which appeals to our temperament,and embrace it with passion if we want to be happy- Cyril Connolly
This exhibition is a celebration and survey of modern crayonart. Crayons are an art medium that has pigment in a base of wax,oil or graphite and are formed or molded into a shape used directlyby the hand. Because of the greasy base, crayons are an excellentmeans of drawing. They move quickly across a surface and depositrich color in the drawn line. They are one of the fastest waysof expressing an artistic idea.
I believe that this show is unique. There have been no similarexhibitions of crayon works by professional artists that I amaware of, although many drawing shows have included crayon worksand many artists across the spectrum of contemporary art continueto use them. Binney&Smith has a Crayola Gallery, and othermanufacturers have exhibited works from time to time, but thisis a first in an independent gallery.
Crayons have a rich history and are undoubtedly the most popularart materials product in the U.S., but there is a stigma thatcrayons carry in the contemporary art world.
The ancient Greeks painted with waxes and all Greek sculpturewas painted with wax. Waxes have to be heated and cured, hencethe term "encaustic" for this process. There are reportsof a legendary cold wax technique used by the Greeks in paintings.The recipe was never discovered. My intuition tells me that crayonsmight be that lost method.
When encaustic painting was revived in the 17th century, usingthe recipes from Greek and Roman historians, crayons were developedsoon afterward. What is the relation of crayon to encaustic? .They are created with the same materials, and have the same chemistry.They are the same material in different form.
The Artists Handbook of Materials and Techniques, the biblefor artists, frowns on the use of manufactured crayons. Althoughthe book extolls pastels for being" pure," crayons aresaid to be cheap and impermanent. I quote " The impermanenceof wax crayons is quite obvious, The surface is extremely fragile,completely incapable of being cleaned or varnished."
The authors admit that artists are using them, but imply thatit is foolish. At another point in the book. They state unequivocallyThat "waxes have the greatest degree of impermeability toatmospheric moisture of any protective material" . This isAn obvious contradiction. They have not been able to documentany studies of crayon impermeability when contacted. Why are theystating this value judgment as a truism?
Anyone who has preserved the crayon art of childhood knowsthat the colors ( of Crayola, for instance) are as vibrant asthe day they were drawn. The paper (usually of non-archival quality)has decayed much faster.
Childrens' art ( and all crayon work becomes child art whateverage of the artist ) is treated with a mixed response. Parentsmight dote on the work of their child, but experts often onlysee the work of children (as well as the work of emotionally ormentally handicapped artists) as a diagnostic tool or test ofmental states. Beauty is rarely considered. If the artist is allowedto interpret his or her own work, that interpretation is skewedto the theory of the diagnostician.
Crayons are seen as in the domain of the child, because allof us used crayons when we were children. This has a negativeconnotation for most adults.
Children are seen as property in our society and without privilege.The control we exert on them ( though often seen as "fortheir own good") is abusive. We suffer as children and growused to it.
Crayons, then, are the tools of a mute and powerless classin our society and are thus tainted.
Foucault, Derrida and other Structuralists show how it is apolitical process. We endowe good qualities to the natural andprivileged: the powerful. The weak or the other is marginalizedand repressed. Many other groups or ideas have been treated inthe same way.
The negative view obscures the most important lesson of all.In the positive, active experience of childhood, which is stillavailable to us, are tools for healing and creativity
Because crayons are the one art tool that has been used byalmost everyone at some time we share them as universal experience.In continuing to draw with crayons we are speaking a universallanguage.
Benedetto Croce, the Italian philosopher, identified Art asfirst activity of the universal creative mind and the basis ofall theoretical experience. Each persons' inner intuition expressesitself in aesthetic appreciation. He believed that we are allartists. Artistic beauty is not found in the physical object butin artistic self-expression.
The quotes in the beginning of this of this essay ( exceptthat of Paul) are from artists who, at the end of their livesand careers spoke of the primacy of childlike consciousness asthe basis for artistic inspiration. Many, many others have saidthe same thing in other ways.
In the book "Trances People Live," author StephenWolinsky describes how we go in and out of trance states, bothpositive and negative, many times each day. These states are stimulatedby early primal experiences that we have had. We are cued by somethingin the environment, or an action that we do, that recalls an earlierstate of consciousness. A trance state is not a thought processbut a state of identity. It is often experienced as a mood orfeeling just below conscious awareness.
When we draw with crayons we enter the child mind, and recallthat state Of consciousness we had as children. This is a pivotalplace of power. This is the place where vision and action areunited, where everything is new, fresh
And without limits.
Artist Nancy Coleman said it succinctly, " Draw in Crayons,tap into child consciousness, tap into primal energy".
Frank Shifreen
Excerpted from Frank Shifreen's essay from " The CrayonShow-
An international Survey of Modern Crayon Art", at OpenSpace Gallery
Allentown PA, July- August 2000. Curated by Julius Vitali andFrank
Shifreen.
THE CRAYON SHOW
JULY 21 AUGUST 26, 2000
Open Space Gallery will present "The Crayon Show."Its theme is any artwork using this medium. The work must be substantiallycreated using Crayon, Caran D'ache, Cray- Pas or oil stick. Crayonsare a universal medium used by almost everyone at some time. Worksdeveloped using this media can vary from expressive and improvisationalto fully developed formal compositions.
Open Space Gallery and performing arts center has been in existencefor 20 years hosting international, national and regional artists.The gallery is located in the heart of Allentown, PA. In addition,has received grants from the NEA, PA Council on the Arts, theCity of Allentown and numerous charitable organizations.
JUROR Curator. Teacher, and Professional NYC Artist Frank Shifreen.Organizer/Curator of the Monument Redefined, Gowanus. BrooklynTerminal Show. Art and Ego. Art Against Apartheid, etc.
.
CALENDER: Call Frank Shifreen for Late Submissions.212-473-5161.
Email him at (lowercase) fshifreen@ mindspring.com or Fshifreen@aol.com
with proposal or jpg/ png of work desired for submission
Accepted works received by July 15, 2000
Reception JULY 21, 2000
Open Space Gallery, 931 Hamilton St, Allentown, PA. 18101 inquiries:(610)- 433-8712 E-mail osgallery@juno.com