When I think of children's drawings, I first think of my early "artwork" and then I think of Maddox. Maddox has a website titled "The Best Page in the Universe" where he simply insults everything. The humor is crude, harsh, hyperbolic, shocking, but enjoyable if you like that kind of stuff. He has two pages where he has critiqued children's artwork. It is a little sad, poor kids, but the stuff he says is too outrageous to not enjoy a little.
Below is one review:
That's interesting, everyone in this picture is white. Even the rainbow is white. Perhaps in an ideal world, everyone would be white isn't that right, Rachel? Or should I call you RACIST? Nice try, Hitler. FWell, that is what I use to think about crayons until I saw a review of Christian Faur's crayon art on Gizmodo. Actually, it is less of a review and more of an introduction to his work followed by the statement - "Dude...stare at it and you will go cross-eyed!" I would agree with that, my head kind of hurts from looking at Faur's work, but you have to admit it is pretty clever and unique. He aligns thousands of crayons to create images out of their color, where each crayon is like a pixel in an image. So ingenious, art made from crayons without drawing with them! I enjoy the close up photos the most because they clearly show the crayons. It illustrates the process and the idea without giving you a headache.
In Faur's artist statement he says, "My studies in the natural sciences have made me aware of these hidden layers of complexity present in even the simplest objects. These invisible layers are seen most clearly through the lens of logic, which is used to decipher the underlying rules and laws that govern the physical world." Faur applies this to his work, using simple objects to make a more complex whole. He has a scientific approach to art that is very intriguing. I don't personally like the aesthetics of his work, but I appreciate his process and creativity. Below is another example of his work that does not use crayons.
2 comments:
I remember when I first really learned how to color with crayons. My elementary school day artwork often received the red check mark indicating mere completion, while other students got the smiley sticker. The problem was that I used to press too hard while shading. Globs of wax would form here or there and make for disconformities in the texturing. Trace with pressure, then shade lightly and evenly – maintain a constant angle of incident to the page.
I’m very interested in how he goes about construct the larger picture from the individual hues. To some extent it seems that technology could help you quantize a larger image with digital imaging software and produce a grid of pixel approximations. I picture a gridded color by number that a computer has generated whereby crayons are mounted in a frame to replicate the image. Though maybe he goes one by one, filtering a mental picture into smaller components.
These reminded me of those “Magic-Eye” pictures (also from elementary school) that require one to focus your entire vision evenly to realize what you are looking at. I especially like the two images that are of different angles. You see how the dimension of the crayons physical cone-contour can create different perceived intensities or angles of depth. Like any other visual art that achieves multiple dimensions despite being limited more or less to one, I marvel at simultaneously acknowledging these limitations and placing my thoughts in the synthesized reality.
Crayons all but disappeared from my life up until a few years ago. It was the summer before junior year and the first day of my new baby sitting gig. I walked into the living room to find Adam (then, 2) spread out on the floor surrounded by a sea of crayons and sheets of construction paper, some already decorated with amorphous squiggles. As he reached for a new sheet of paper he noticed my presence and gestured for me to join him.
That summer Adam became my most beloved of art teachers. He reintroduced me to crayons, markers, finger paints and, possibly the best medium ever, chalk.
Your blog reminded me of that summer. Thank you.
Also! Thanks for the great introduction to the artist. I love when someone takes something - anything - and changes your perspective of it. Especially with such a degree of irony. It's Crayon Art...and not how you'd expect it :)
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