Plus Minus – Drawing installation

Ram Samocha July 2020

As an artist I find myself bringing two practices together: drawing and performance. I have been doing drawings as live performance works which have developed into an international community of artists coming together for events and workshops that I have organised. The drawing performances I have done are steps out from drawing I do in the studio. I’m interested in the difference in experience and outcome of drawing in front of a live audience compared to drawing as a solitary studio activity.

The large work showing in the windows here is from The Agreement (Plus Minus) that was made with a punch pad and rubber stamps, as part of a performance night at Camden Image Gallery, Lab 451, with Lud Enwick, curated by Geraldine Gallavardin. Alongside this paper document, a collaboration with the audience, I’ve put up smaller preparatory sketches made in the studio.

             

The energy of creating something live with many people around watching is so different from the solo work produced in the studio, yet visually they remain connected and related to one another. I’m interested in the visual continuity between the two, which was my plan, and the difference between the studio and the live work.

Putting the work up now – I’ve found the possibility of returning to and reflecting on this previous body of work, while creating a space and a dialogue between my studio plans and what happened on the night or what I’m thinking about or planning and what actually takes place.

This dialogue seems relevant for now – especially for artists and live performers for whom live events and exhibitions have been arrested.

 

______________________________________________________________________

The original drawing performance The Agreement (Plus Minus) was made by Ram Samocha in collaboration with Lud Enwick and the audience at Camden Image Gallery, Lab451London (PLAY) – A night of performances & visual arts, 3.1.2015, curated by Geraldine Gallavardin.