Workshop EXPERIMENTAL DRAWING by Nikola Röthemeyer

“Composition »Dot to Dot«

Each line has a beginning and an end, it leads from A to B. That’s how the „dot to dot images“ in children’s coloring-books work. In our composition »Dot to Dot« we want to discover the charm of such profane drawing templates (can there be a charm at all?). If so, what is it? The endless line, the awkward, the edges and corners, the path from dot to line to surface and ultimately the object. Which decisions can I take? Should I deliberately leave the drawing unfinished to protect the secret? Do I want to work with fragments? Can I create a dot to dot drawing myself, easy reduced and strict?

In the second experiment we are going to create a nail picture on the studio wall. We  will drive nails into the wall and from nail to nail we will span a thread. Which possibilities do we have? Back and forth, crossing, overlapping, concentrated lines, distances and lengths, light and shadow, narration, a temporary three-dimensional drawing. In the next step we will explore what happens if I translate this three-dimensional drawing onto a piece of paper. Or if I don’t use nail and thread but a pencil and paper or needle and thread to span such a net.

Composition »Chance principle«

In this experiment we use chance and calculation to create graphically convincing and exciting compositions. First of all, we let ink flow over a piece of paper without interacting directly. We manipulate or stop the colour-flow by turning, tipping or bending the paper. The quantity and consistency of the paint are our composition tools. In a second step we combine chance and calculation by cutting or tearing up the cast out results from the first experiment to arrange new images. Square or rectangular paper cut-outs are used as contrasting forms. Eventually a figure may be integrated to complete the story.” (Text by courtesy of Nikola Röthemeyer)