Satisfying, Necessary and Dangerous

Damaged Goods

Typewriter drawing on paper, graphite & double sided tape

45 x 48 inches (114 x 122 cm)

$1300

Eighty-Nine (detail)

Permanent marker & isopropyl alcohol on paper

22 ½ x 30 inches (56 x 76 cm)

SOLD

Exoskeleton
Typewriter drawing on paper

One-hundred-fifty-eight 5-inch (13 cm) squares & six-hundred-thirty-two magnets/tacks 

7 feet (2.13 m) tall by 6 feet (1.82 m) wide

$3000

 Séance
Permanent marker on paper

22 x 22 inches (56 x 56 cm)

$300

Artist Statement:

 This method of drawing embodies all that is satisfying, necessary and dangerous about compartmentalization.

Modernity forces us to be vigilantly aware of a constant influx of information, lest we be thwarted, caught off guard, or left behind—a seemingly impossible task.  By first synthesizing and then chipping away at this information, we comfort ourselves with smallness, familiarity. We dissociate from the inconceivable.

Using a grid and a drawing tool, I address one segment at a time.  The looming threat of the greater image—one that might take ninety hours or thousands of strikes on the typewriter to complete—becomes a singular drawing, a smaller, conceivable task that is both separate from and part of the future whole.

The parallel to life is so clear—this essential process can also be dangerous. Synthesis and compartmentalization are of course necessary for survival, but cross a fine line and these abilities can transform into self-deception and denial, or harbor an obsession with control and perfection.

But how satisfying it is to draw this way! Walking that fine line fulfills this bizarre, fretful urge to attain perfection. Alongside (and perhaps contradictory to) this urge, I’ve come to enjoy the imperfections and happy accidents that my background in printmaking and drawing has led me to. I revel in working within a medium in which marks can’t be erased and blemishes are a part of the process. For me, it’s a funny, competitive exercise in self-flagellating gratification, and a reminder that I’m not a computer, yet.

Rachel Mulder

The works above were created between November 2013 and July 2014 and were created for Analog Obscured, an exhibition of works by myself and photographer Lindsey Rickert at AFRU Gallery in Portland, Oregon.  The opening reception took place July 3, 2014.  The show comes down on July 31, 2014. Gallery hours: Friday & Saturday 12-4pm; Sunday 2-6pm

These drawings were made using my Sears Citation II typewriter, graphite, sharpie & isopropyl alcohol.