'bad touch,' Donna Desrochers, The Brandeis Reporter. 09 09 03 [Rose Art Museum]
Drawing has traditionally been and still is at the core of academic artistic training. Aspiring artists are encouraged to acquire the essential skill of drawing and to practice extensively in composition, perspective, and anatomy before moving to other media. In its nonacademic form, drawing is often considered the most immediate creative expression, directly reflecting the artist's style without premeditation.
bad touch turns away from the academic drawing style and casts light on the second category of drawing, which conveys a "bad touch" spirit in either style or subject matter. "Bad" is to be understood in the sense that the works do not seem to be carefully crafted representations, but rather loose and spontaneous drawings, rapid and rough sketches, personal notes torn out of notebooks, artful or aimless doodles, scribbles, etc. "Bad" can also refer to their subjects, sometimes bold, provocative, or humorous.
Initiated by Bill Thelen, of lump gallery in Raleigh, N.C. and co- curated by The Rose's Raphaela Platow, bad touch is a traveling, ever- expanding exhibition that features more than 90 emerging artists from around the world. Hannah Burr, Rebecca Doughty, Daniel Dueck, Heather Hobler-Keene , Spencer James , Melora Kuhn, and Sharon Kaitz, are among the Boston artists represented .
The exhibition has been shown in Raleigh, N.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, and London, and is slated for future stops in Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Berlin, among others. As every venue integrates artists who live and work in the respective cities, the concept of bad touch is flexible and constantly changing. Every manifestation of bad touch creates a fresh dialogue with newly added artistic perspectives that reinvestigate the notion of drawing as a unique and personal medium.
-Donna Desrochers
Brandeis Reporter