How to Hang a Drawing?

“Bottom left sway left to edge up two three seconds stop edge down one second edge bottom middle jolting up again right shaping out a moon or a balloon or a womb or a paper lamp the shape of those two three or four times kneed erasure pressure to paper to surface palm wipes clear its residue leaving other moons and balloons in its place five more times sharp curve to line down center. Stop. Repeat.” -June Canedo de Souza

Hamiltonian Artists is pleased to present How to Hang a Drawing?, a solo exhibition by June Canedo de Souza.

In her studio, using charcoal and oil pastels, the artist treats drawing as the necessary first hour. She moves from paper to paper, one drawing made within minutes of another. Presence is altered when material, body, and surface connect; many a drawing is made.

Paper is dipped into a mixture of joint compound, plaster, and water, then rolled within slabs of cardboard and set out to dry. The paper is then separated from its drying place as residues record the conditions of their making. Each surface bears the memory of touch, weight, moisture, chance, and time, allowing the molding of the material to guide the final composition. To view this site-specific installation is to navigate an interconnected landscape of folds, contours, and lines, reaching beyond the picture plane and connecting to the movement of one’s particular experience of space.

“You know the movements we make every day, like swirling your milk around your mug, trying to savor the heat of your coffee. To make the pleasure slow. Drawing feels like that. Like listening to the voice of your therapist guiding you through a visual meditation as you leave the present moment and dive into the depths of a vast ocean where you forgive your father before coming up for air. The pulse between my hand, the charcoal, and the surface. Drawing feels like that,” states Canedo de Souza.

Artist

June Canedo de Souza is a painter who is interested in the diachronic development of abstraction, how it evolves, transforms, and gathers new meanings across cultures and time. She works with sculpture and performance when necessary. Canedo de Souza received an MFA from The Milton Avery School of the Arts at Bard College.

Artworks