Drawing on Film
May 29 – July 24, 2008

The Drawing Center
35 Wooster Street, New York, NY, 10013
t212-219-2166
Tuesday – Friday, 10 AM – 6 PM; Saturday, 11 AM – 6 PM

“Drawing on Film” will survey the practice of “direct film”—the process of drawing, scratching, or otherwise manipulating film stock to create images without a camera. The exhibition will present works spanning from the late 1930s to the present and will highlight an overlooked facet of experimental film. Many of the works to be exhibited are seminal films in the history of the genre—including Len Lye’s A Colour Box and Norman McLaren’s Blinkity Blank—while other, more contemporary works are being screened for the first time. By showcasing films from over seven decades, Drawing on Film will present an overview of the rich legacy of direct film.

The exhibition will transform the Drawing Room into a screening room with a program of films by eleven artists that will screen multiple times each day. In addition, individual installations, one by Jennifer Reeves and one by Jennifer West, will run for one week each. Two separate evening screenings will feature works by Stan Brakhage and by Dieter Roth and Amy Granat, respectively.

Artists include: Stan Brakhage, Robert Breer, Amy Granat, Pierre Hébert, Len Lye, Norman McLaren, Bärbel Neubauer, Jenny Perlin, Jennifer Reeves, Richard Reeves, Dieter Roth, Harry Smith, and Jennifer West.

Screening Schedule
Thursday, May 29 – Saturday, July 5 (daily)
Tuesday, July 22 – Thursday, July 24 (daily)
Len Lye, A Colour Box, 1935, 4 min.; Norman McLaren, Blinkity Blank, 1955, 5:15 min.; Harry Smith, Early Abstractions no. 3: Interwoven, 1947–49, 3:20 min.; Bärbel Neubauer, Roots, 1996, 3:44 min.; Dieter Roth, Dot, 1956–62, 2:39 min; Jenny Perlin, Lost Treasures, 1999, 2:33 min.; Pierre Hébert, Op Hop – Hop Op, 1966, 3:30 min.; Richard Reeves, Linear Dreams, 1997, 7 min.; Jennifer West, Double Fast Luck Film (16mm film leader sprinkled with Red Luck Oil, Green Luck perfume, soaked in mint, cinnamon and vanilla), 2006, 2:44 min.; Len Lye, Free Radicals, 1958 (revised 1979), 4 min.; Robert Breer, Eyewash, 1959, 3 min.; Pierre Hébert, Memories of War, 1983, 16:10 min.; Bärbel Neubauer, Moonlight, 1997, 4:11 min.; Norman McLaren, Scherzo, 1939, 1:25 min.; and Amy Granat, Valentines Day Film, 2008, 6:57 min.

Courtesy BKD!