Dec. 1, 2022, 2022 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Pen and ink convey detailed views of city life in the latest exhibit in Grand Rapids Community College’s Collins Art Gallery.
“Drawings in Ink,” featuring the work of Kendall College of Art and Design adjunct instructor Taylor Mazer, runs through Dec. 5.
Mazer is a Kalamazoo native who earned bachelor’s degrees in fine art and illustration from Kendall. He has had his work featured in more than a dozen publications, including “International Drawing” annuals and the Oxford University Press’ “Drawing Essentials: A Guide to Drawing from Observation.” He works with Micron drawing pens, brush pens and India ink.
“While my works are more rooted in the analysis of an environment, I still like to utilize tools often reserved for narrative illustrations,” he said. “I will direct light and shadow, signs, the direction of the line work, placement of objects, etc., to focus the viewer’s eye on particular objects, similar to how a comic book dictates a narrative through its panels.”
“Artistaday” an online gallery that features artists from around the world, commented that Mazer has “a keen eye for the city.”
“But what you won’t find in his work are sweeping skylines or postcard views of famous monuments. Rather Mazer favors the less glamorous side of the city. Street signs, lamp poles, highways and electrical lines are all common images in his work.
“His meticulously detailed drawings are both elegant and gritty. It’s hard to look at a Taylor’s drawing and not want to get up close to follow his lines, or to become captivated by his dramatic shading, and stark light and dark contrasts. So, when Taylor draws a trashcan or a street pole, he’s not shedding a negative light on the city (in fact, he seems to love it!), rather he is simply asking that we look at it from the less obvious perspective. And sometimes that makes all the difference.”
The gallery, on the fourth floor of GRCC’s Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall at 143 Bostwick Ave. NE, is open 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays.