Observations – Judith Appleton

Judith Yehudit Appleton is showing new works on paper made recently during an artist residency. The large-scale pieces are installed in a small, concentrated exhibition space, evoking an expanse and a journey distilled into a poem.

Her stay in Switzerland in a small lakeside city surrounded by agricultural areas enabled the artist to absorb the rural atmosphere and walk the footpaths and roads leading to nearby vineyards and green fields. On one of her ramblings, she unexpectedly came face to face with a Cessna under a canvas cover standing in a small airfield among the fields of crops. This large object, covered yet seemingly stripped bare, became the trigger for a series of observations, from direct drawing on site to large-scale works made in the studio.

The small plane looked like a clumsy bird of prey or an imaginary wild animal at rest, perhaps a moment before taking a leap. Artist residencies often stimulate artists to invent and think outside the box, to leave their comfort zone and create something new. Along with the large drawings in charcoal, watercolor crayons, watercolor and gouache on paper, very different from Appleton’s landscapes in oil on canvas, on view are several small drawings and etudes.

Works in pastel, pencil, and charcoal made on-site from direct observation are exhibited together with interiors from the residency’s large living/working space. Alongside the panoramic drawing with small, stubborn marks dancing across the page, slowly building the image of the grapevines and an elusive perspective, the large drawing of the studio space stands out – rapid, straight lines create a space made almost ex nihilo emphasizing the sharp contrasts between dark and light, interior and exterior, seeming like a theatrical backdrop that could collapse at any moment.

Curator: Vera Pilpoul