Portraits
People, painted fast. The Rawblocks series opens with a run of portraits, most of them drawn between November 5 and 9, 2022: a man in a plaid shirt with a cigarette, a hunched man in a cap, a figure in a hooded cloak of polka dots, a man in a beanie and beard. They are painted in soft discs of color with a loose line drawn over them, and the line is what makes them people.
Each one wears something. A cap, a bandana, sunglasses, a fur coat, a hoodie. The clothes are often more worked than the face, and the face is a few strokes: two eyes, a red mouth, a cigarette. The grounds are flat and plain, grey, olive, blue, so the figure is all there is.
The room opens with three cartoon heads from the first night and closes with two painted figures from January 2023. Watch how the painting changes between them, from a round yellow head to a woman in yellow light with no face at all.
The First Night
October 30 and 31, 2022. Three cartoon heads to begin: a round yellow head in pink glasses, a face in sunglasses in orange rays, and a red-haired head on legs.
Rawblocks #3
A round yellow head wearing pink glasses, with a small red mouth and one curl of hair, on a body in a blue coat holding out a black glove. The ground is teal with soft discs, and a row of yellow triangles stands on the head like a crown of spikes. It is the first Rawblocks work after the two masks of May, drawn October 30, 2022, and it is a cartoon: a circle for a head, a dot for a nose.
Rawblocks #6
A face in dark sunglasses drawn in yellow and purple line over a ground of orange rays, its mouth open on a row of white teeth.
Rawblocks #7
A red-haired head on two black legs walks across orange, grinning with white fangs, one arm out, its hair a cloud of red scribble.
One Evening in November
November 5, 2022. Six portraits in two hours, from a man in plaid to a hunched man in a cap.
Rawblocks #8
A man with a red cap of hair and blue eyes stands in a plaid shirt, painted in grey, brown and teal with white line over it, a cigarette at his lips. The ground is brown with dark shapes at the right. The shirt is drawn as a grid of lines over dark paint, and the face is a few strokes: two blue eyes, a red mouth, a line for the nose. The November portraits begin here.
Rawblocks #9
A man in a blue striped shirt sits with his hands on his knees, his trousers black with white stripes, on a grey ground, his small face painted in brown.
Rawblocks #10
A man in a camouflage shirt raises one arm against dark green, his hair blue, his mouth red, drawn in white line over painted tan and brown.
Rawblocks #11
A figure in a hooded cloak of blue and white stripes with yellow polka dots, a brown face inside the hood drawn in orange scribble with one blue eye, on teal inside a loose white frame. The cloak is painted in soft blue with the stripes and dots drawn over it. The face is small and the cloak is huge, and the frame around the whole thing is drawn in a few white strokes, like a window.
Rawblocks #12
A hunched man in a dark cap looks down against purple, his face painted in gold and brown with a red eye, a band of pink light crossing behind him.
Rawblocks #13
A red-haired figure with crossed-out eyes in a huge white fur coat on orange, painted in soft discs.
Glasses, Hoodies and Hats
November 6 to 8, 2022. Eight portraits: glasses and curly hair, pink sunglasses, a cap and a cigarette, a bandana, a beanie and a beard.
Rawblocks #14
A man with curly hair and glasses in profile on olive, painted in grey and lilac, with red lips and a dark coat, the glasses drawn as a single lens.
Rawblocks #15
A face drawn in black line with curly hair, lit by rainbow rays from behind, its eyes yellow and its mouth a grin of teeth.
Rawblocks #16
A man in pink sunglasses and a blue hood, painted in brown and grey, his hair a crest of red and orange strokes, his mouth open on orange teeth with red drips falling from it. The sunglasses are one pink shape across the face with a dark lens. The hood is blue with white line. With 585 recorded strokes it is one of the most worked drawings in the room, and the drips are the one violent mark in a room of calm faces.
Rawblocks #17
A man in a blue cap and sunglasses with a red beard smokes a cigarette, in profile on olive with a field of white dots behind him. The cap is drawn in blue with a dark brim, the sunglasses are black with a purple lens, and the beard is orange scribble. His jacket is red with white sleeves. The cigarette is drawn in white with a red tip. It is the room's most complete figure: hat, glasses, beard, jacket, cigarette, all in one.
Rawblocks #18
A profile in a red bandana and glasses, with a gold earring drawn as a spiral, red lips, and a yellow jacket, on a ground of soft yellow and pink discs. The bandana is drawn in red scribble with a blue band across it. The face is painted in pink and lilac and drawn over in black. At 708 recorded strokes, no other work in the room took as much drawing.
Rawblocks #21
A painted head with green curly hair and a small red mouth on blue, its face grey and purple with two round eyes, a hand at the shoulder.
Rawblocks #22
The same head, half an hour later, with red goggles and a beam of gold pouring from its mouth to the right.
Compare with #21, in this room
Rawblocks #23
A man in a red beanie with a brown beard and blue eyes, in a yellow jacket, on blue. The face is painted in dark blue and brown with colored scribble over it, and the eyes are two rings under drawn lashes. The beanie is red with a folded brim. The jacket is yellow with a row of buttons. It is the last of the November portraits, drawn November 8, with 592 recorded strokes.
Cartoons and Two Painted Figures
November 9, 2022, three cartoon heads with horns and goggles. Then, after ten weeks, two painted figures from January 23, 2023.
Rawblocks #26
A cartoon head on red with pink lashes, yellow eyes, pink cheeks, a mustache and a horn, two black hands raised at the sides.
Rawblocks #27
A dark cartoon head on purple with a crown of red dots and white spikes, orange lashes, and a beam of orange light crossing from the left, on a thin neck of bones.
Rawblocks #28
A head with curly yellow hair, blue goggles, a red clown nose and white lips, on red, with green dots on the cheeks and a striped wand at the right.
Rawblocks #51
A woman with dark hair in yellow light, her face a cloud of pale discs with no features but a blue mark and a small red mouth, her hands drawn in black at the lower corners. Sixty-eight strokes. Ten weeks after the man in plaid, the painting has gone soft: the light is the subject, and the face is almost gone.
Compare with #8, in this room
Rawblocks #52
A figure with purple hair looks up on black, its face painted in gold and green with scribble over it, one arm raised and the other reaching out, drawn in brown line.
Closing
The man in plaid with his cigarette was drawn in a few strokes on the first evening of November. The woman in yellow light came in January. Both are people. One is drawn in line over paint. The other is paint with almost no line, and the face has dissolved into the light.