Torsos, 2017
I created this series during my study abroad program, The History of Art and Architecture in Greece and Italy through Georgia Tech. This series of charcoal drawings focuses on quality of light in how it reflects and refracts around forms. I did this by choosing ten different statues ranging from the Classical Greek period (300 BCE) to the Middle Roman Empire (120 BCE), and I then isolated the torsos of four female figures and five male figures from four different museums that I visited during my travels in Greece and Italy.
I chose to focus on the torso because of its ability to bend, twist, and stretch. As a Drawing major at the University of Georgia I have taken four Figure Drawing/Anatomy courses the past two years and this is my favorite part of the body structurally because of its layers of muscles, fat, and bones and for its ability to pivot. I wanted to learn how the ancients treated the depiction of this physical epicenter of the body and how that depiction changed over time. I also thought these drawings could make a connection between humans and buildings in the way the trunk of the body with its folds of skin, muscle, or more literally through the clothed female form relates to actual columns.
Each drawing is 18”x24”, made with charcoal on paper. I worked from on site sketching on a small scale of 8 ¼”x11 ¾”; from a combination of these sketches and photographs I created these final versions.