Characters in Silhouette
How much can a solid shape tell us?
A dark shape can establish a character with only a few additional marks. Follow silhouettes across colored grounds, then compare eye shapes, mouth signs and lines around or within the body. Later works make the dark area less continuous. Notice which details alter recognition while the larger shape remains a useful landmark.
The Shape Alone
Three works open with the most reduced version of the structure: one dark shape, one flat field, and almost nothing else added to either.
NNOTB #62
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View & watch drawingThe smallest, most isolated figure in the exhibition: a rounded black form in a wide yellow field, its stitched grin and looped eyes the only marks that break the seal.
NNOTB #103
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View & watch drawingA low black dome on teal; a single spiral eye is the sole interior mark, the wide empty field above left unbroken.
NNOTB #112
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View & watch drawingA bird-like silhouette on saturated green; jagged lines fan in one direction only, and two yellow X-eyes with a stitched mouth are the sole color on the form.
nnxyz nnotb #62 sits in open yellow warmth at lower right; this shape presses to the ground on cool teal, same economy of marks, different weight and temperature.
nnxyz nnotb #103's single spiral eye gives way to paired X-eyes here; the radiating lines shift from a full arc to a one-sided fan, keeping the field mostly open.
Fields Filled with Lines
Four works surround the silhouette with radiating lines that extend across the field in every direction, describing the space around the figure rather than the figure itself.
NNOTB #268
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View & watch drawingA dark rounded mass on lavender, wavy lines radiating outward from its entire edge; inner lavender contour lines and a detached oval below are the only marks on the form itself.
nnxyz nnotb #112's lines fan to one side on green; here dark lines radiate from all sides on a cool lavender field, and the form turns inward rather than outward.
NNOTB #88
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View & watch drawingA wide-armed silhouette on amber; zigzag lines scatter outward from the head and shoulders across the whole field, denser on the left, while a grass strip anchors the base.
NNOTB #92
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View & watch drawingA one-legged figure on orange; two distinct line rhythms — tight zigzags above, slower waves below — give the surrounding space a split quality that the figure's unresolved stance echoes.
nnxyz nnotb #268's dark lines on lavender give way to black zigzags on warm amber — the radiating marks grow more agitated and the palette heats up.
nnxyz nnotb #88's lines radiate uniformly from a static form; here the lines divide into two registers around a figure whose balance is itself unresolved.
NNOTB #60
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View & watch drawingA squat, stepped black shape on olive-yellow; yellow lines pulse outward in all directions while a zigzag mouth reads as snarl or grin depending on the moment.
nnxyz nnotb #92's single-legged instability gives way to a wide, grounded frontality — but the all-direction radiating lines and ambiguous mouth sustain the pressure.
The Eye Mark
Four works place the eye at the center of attention, each using a different form — loop, spiral, concentric ring — producing a different quality of looking back at the viewer.
NNOTB #98
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View & watch drawingDouble-loop yellow eyes and a W-shaped mouth on a teal-grounded rabbit form; the eyes hold the gaze with an alertness that the radiating lines behind the figure amplify.
nnxyz nnotb #60's zigzag mouth drew attention across the lower face; here the double-loop eyes pull focus upward and hold it, making the face the primary event.
NNOTB #64
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View & watch drawingA pointed black form on teal with a single yellow spiral eye; tight zigzags near the jagged mouth and loose waves at the margins give the watchfulness a directional edge.
NNOTB #51
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View & watch drawingA reclining black cat on burnt-orange, its yellow-green spiral eyes wide and its white fang-points the only break in the silhouette; yellow lines vibrate across the whole field.
nnxyz nnotb #98's frontal double eyes become a single side-facing spiral here — the gaze narrows and points rather than stares outward.
nnxyz nnotb #64's cool teal field gives way to hot orange; the spiral eye form recurs but doubles, and white fang marks add a second point of interior detail.
NNOTB #147
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View & watch drawingA large black rounded head on deep red, its concentric circle eyes and dashed seam-line giving it a wired, assembled quality; isolated blue marks float at the margins apart from the central form.
nnxyz nnotb #51's orange field and radiating lines shift to deep red; the eye form moves from spiral to concentric ring, and the surrounding field gains isolated floating marks rather than a continuous radiated field.
When the Shape Opens
The final four works complicate the silhouette structure: color enters the form, surfaces accumulate marks, and the boundary between figure and field begins to break down.
NNOTB #266
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View & watch drawingA teal figure on dark grey — color fills the form rather than surrounding it; a jagged crown and two small red marks concentrate pressure on the face from inside the outline.
nnxyz nnotb #147's black form on red is replaced by a colored form on dark grey — the silhouette logic inverts, and the marks move inside the outline rather than into the field.
NNOTB #277
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View & watch drawingA black side-profile held by a thin pink contour; a small blue-white eye cluster and a red mouth mark read as sparks against the dark mass, while zigzag lines continue down the torso.
NNOTB #70
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View & watch drawingA head in three-quarter view where the left side dissolves into layered color marks and a dense tangle of lines; the right eye socket holds a large white spiral that pulls the gaze inward against the surrounding density.
nnxyz nnotb #266's teal fill gives way to near-total black; the red marks shrink to a single mouth point, and the agitation spreads from face down through the body.
nnxyz nnotb #277's restless lines are held within a clear outline; here the outline breaks on one side and the interior marks spill outward, collapsing the boundary between figure and field.
NNOTB #165
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View & watch drawingThe most layered work in the exhibition: a black mass with framed eye zones, tooth rows, and a background of flat color blocks crossed by loose lines — the silhouette strategy at its most loaded.
nnxyz nnotb #70's partial dissolution becomes total here; the background is no longer a single flat field but a patchwork of color blocks, and the figure's features multiply into confrontational density.
One more look
Compare two silhouettes with different facial marks. What remains recognizable if you look at the larger dark shapes first?