"From time to time I do a large thematic drawing such AS "Deluge", again a stand-alone piece, not related to a specific painting. It's done in a method I like, "trios crayons", as the French called it: sanguine, black, and white."
"Deluge" Art Rosenbaum
"I was looking through some old portfolios, one, from about 20 years ago, had abstract improvisations, studies of nude and clothed figures, portraits of my wife and son, drawings of musicians. I'm still at it; I draw (try to every day.) Most drawings are to expand and strengthen my chops at the task (never-ending), and only a few are preliminary studies for specific paintings. From time to time I do a large thematic drawing such as "Deluge", again a stand-alone piece, not related to a specific painting. It's done in a method I like, "trios crayons", as the French called it: sanguine, black, and white. It's an agglomeration, and allegory, but don't ask me to explain the meaning. In earlier times artists took narrative and allegorical content from religious or mythological sources; more recently, artists like my heroes Beckmann and Guston develop thematic paintings from the world around them melded with their inner selves, as well as they can, and develop works that are more than the sum of parts in form and content. That is my aspiration; it's not too important that the singer Lawrence McKiver and the banjo player Ed Teague (whom I knew) and skateboarders I observed in Athens, Georgia, appear. "
Art Rosenbaum
