Exhibition runs: 10 June – 21 June 2025
Drawing Space: minus and plus, a collection of small-scale drawings by Perth based artist Suzanne .k. Franklin (aka sue.k.).
With the intent to open the experience of viewing to one that’s unhindered by narrative, each work exhibited as part of Drawing Space: minus and plus depicts a sphere, or spheres, and a horizon line only. While minimal in what is presented, these, along with the surface marks found in most, become the tools to negotiate the complexities of space, time, and the emotive power of colour and image. Conventional means with which to apply narrative are negated leaving nothing but a pure experience of what is before, the material substance of the work.
The approach taken in the production of these works, and the framing choice specific to the aesthetics, lead to a blurring of multiple boundaries. Layering of colours and marks in a similar way found with painting leave the boundary between drawing and painting precarious and in question. This is compounded by the choice to frame to the edge of the work without the traditional mounting on matboard found with drawings, while still placing the work under glass, as is traditional in drawing work. The antiquated wide scoop style of the dark timber frame with its high edge lends itself to a removal of temporal positioning, a removal of time. This is further enhanced with the absence of narrative in the pictorial space and the painterly approach to application of the medium, they too allow a positioning of time and experience of space that is not now. Yet in contrast, the abstract presentation of sphere and line heralds modernity and brings in to play a tension between contemporary and bygone and unveils a dichotomy within the work.
‘Sphere No. 006’, Suzanne .k. Franklin, 2023, Inktense pencil on 300gsm Fabriano Artistico 100% cotton paper, 22cm x 18cm.
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