"The Perfume of Shadows"

These large drawings began as small sketches in my notebook based on black and white newspaper photos of man made architecture in a state of flux due to wars, natural disasters, and poverty. I was interested in how these more complicated structures could make for a richer perception of space in my work. To keep my search honest and to the point I limited myself to the simplest materials of any beginning drawing class, charcoal, paper and a kneaded eraser. With the passing of each drawing it became apparent that I needed to leave the idea of a drawing as a thing and begin to think of it as a place. So I started to combine large sheets of drawing paper together and let the work grow organically. As the drawings grew to wall size they also became more fragile, unprotected, volatile and for the lack of a better term, more life like. The title of this show comes from my reading of the novel “Blindness” by Jose Saramago. There is something about sight, senses and finding of place in this book that points to these drawings. That is as close to a literary reading of my work that I feel comfortable with. — Michael K. Paxton

"Axis Z"

These large drawings on canvas and paper are a continuation of my investigation in how the architecture of more complicated structures can make for a richer perception of space in my work. To keep my search honest and to the point I have limited myself to the simple materials of drawing, charcoal and a surface to work on. The title for this show comes from the terms used in digital editing, X and Y axis deal with width and height, while Z axis is about the perception of depth. I have chosen places of large excavation in deep space, places caught in mid point between nature and man made to further the idea of a drawing as not a thing but a place. As far as any literary content of this work I refer to a passage in David Sylvester’s book on Looking at Giacometti where he observes that both Giacometti and Cezanne were preoccupied with the problems of “the elusiveness of the contour that separates volume and space, and the distance of things from the eye.” The nature of the present is what I point to. — Michael K. Paxton