projects > Selected reviews, books, interviews, & catalogue essays

Curator N. Elizabeth Schlatter developed Leaded: The Materiality and Metamorphosis of Graphite from rather simple concepts . . . Featuring work by a diverse group of international artists, the show is premised on the fact that graphite is a material that speaks to both artists and non-artists alike. As such, Leaded begins and ends with graphite. Many of the artists in the exhibition share her views on the universality of the medium: graphite and its mass-produced vehicle, the pencil, are ubiquitous, unprivileged, and already understood. Following this logic, Leaded is conceptually straightforward yet artistically complex and challenging. It is articulated around three general themes: Graphite as Content, Graphite as Transformative Agent, and Graphite as Sculpture. . . .

Molly Springfield's obsessively rendered drawings of photocopies are also quite elusive. By presenting a copy of a copy of an object, she puts forth the problem of originality. A question arises, underpinning this investigation: "why would anyone go to the trouble?" The Real Object, 2006, a drawing of a photocopied art history text, unmercifully begs us to follow Springfield down the rabbit hole. While her sensuous rendering of the photocopied page is masterful, the subject matter leaves us cool.