mnartists.org: Debra Bruers

Golda Meir

Debra Bruers — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:59:57 GMT

Rolling Fields

Debra Bruers — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:58:43 GMT

Battlefield

Debra Bruers — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:56:23 GMT

Artist Statement

My drawings are the purest and most direct translation of my emotions. The simplification of the medium allows that. The usage of charcoal enables me to consider simultaneously the character of self, the human expression, and the quality of surrounding light, atmosphere and all that can be expressed by drawing. And only when I feel drained of effort, which may go on for several sessions, can I with a clear mind and without hesitation, give free rein to my charcoal stick. Once my emotive line has modeled the light of my white paper without destroying whiteness, I can neither add nor take away anything. The page is written; no correction possible. If it is not adequate, there is no alternative than to begin again.

The series of four drawings of a Girl, realized in pastels and charcoal, depict various edges of my childhood memories. In this reflection, I quickly realized how little I’ve changed and also that of the world around me. It was, and remains for me, a world of black and white, right or wrong, normal or deviant. And like the opposing elements of my culture which shaped me, so too are the flat white surfaces that I’ve transformed with blacks and whites; fractions of color that seem out of place, yet not. I challenged the white empty spaces as I’ve challenged and questioned the conditions that surrounded me then and now.

And so, these four drawings of a Girl, and the others that came before them, stem from my imagination and from my physical world, I think of as—life forms. This girl, myself, whom I’ve long forgotten, has been transformed by my vision and skill into something new—a form of life. This cycle from life forms to forms of life begins in drawing when I, haunted by an image or an idea, put my charcoal to paper. And this girl, once me, has returned to re-take her place in this world.

Jacqueline Kennedy

Debra Bruers — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 22:12:44 GMT

Beth

Debra Bruers — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 22:01:49 GMT

Mattie

Debra Bruers — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 22:00:12 GMT

S/he II

Debra Bruers — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:58:25 GMT

S/he I

Debra Bruers — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:57:25 GMT

S/he

Debra Bruers — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:56:11 GMT

Journey Home

Debra Bruers — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:54:02 GMT

Mary Rockcastle II

Debra Bruers — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:52:26 GMT

Mary Rockcastle I

Debra Bruers — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:50:48 GMT

Ice Bridge

Debra Bruers — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:41:23 GMT

A Girl

Debra Bruers — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:38:10 GMT

With bold black lines, a blurring and eradicating and re-drawing of those lines, I confront and change the pristine hardened white barriers of these empty rolling spaces of time. I reveal and re-discover the complexities of self as my eraser leaves only trails of memory where harsh black lines once were. Grayish rivers emerge that flow nervously across the surface, reflective of my own apprehension and sense of loss of self and identity. My drawings are the purest and most direct translation of my emotions. The simplification of the medium allows that. The usage of charcoal enables me to consider simultaneously the character of self, the human expression, and the quality of surrounding light, atmosphere and all that can be expressed by drawing. And only when I feel drained of effort, which may go on for several sessions, can I with a clear mind and without hesitation, give free rein to my charcoal stick. Once my emotive line has modeled the light of my white paper without destroying whiteness, I can neither add nor take away anything. The page is written; no correction possible. If it is not adequate, there is no alternative than to begin again. The series of four drawings of a Girl, realized in pastels and charcoal, depict various edges of my childhood memories. In this reflection, I quickly realized how little I've changed and also that of the world around me. It was, and remains for me, a world of black and white, right or wrong, normal or deviant. And like the opposing elements of my culture which shaped me, so too are the flat white surfaces that I've transformed with blacks and whites; fractions of color that seem out of place, yet not. I challenged the white empty spaces as I've challenged and questioned the conditions that surrounded me then and now. And so, these four drawings of a Girl, and the others that came before them, stem from my imagination and from my physical world, I think of as-life forms. This girl, myself, whom I've long forgotten, has been transformed by my vision and skill into something new-a form of life. This cycle from life forms to forms of life begins in drawing when I, haunted by an image or an idea, put my charcoal to paper. And this girl, once me, has returned to re-take her place in this world.

Warrior

Debra Bruers — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:35:49 GMT

Artist Statement