Bill Woodrow - Camden Art Centre

The celebrated British sculptor presented a series of 21 large-scale drawings in Gallery 1, while in Gallery 3, for the first time, made a site-specific drawing directly onto the walls.

Although Woodrow has made drawings sporadically throughout his career, it was only in the late 1980s that he started drawing more regularly as a separate activity from making sculpture, and producing the large works like those in this series. This was the first exhibition of his drawings in this country.

Made using black and white oil stick, the drawings, although related in imagery and ideas to Woodrow’s sculpture, were made for their own sake and not as working drawings for sculptures. In these multi-layered images, Woodrow combined plant, animal and human forms with landscape and abstract elements, and representations of man-made objects. The work could be seen as dealing with issues of ecology and consumerism and exploring the complex relationships of conflict and connection between the natural world and industrialised society, between animal, human and technological systems.

 

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