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THE BIG DIG: KARL WIRSUM • SKETCHBOOK 1966
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Plates
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KW: That is a fairly accurate description. Other experiences and ideas come into play and help me make the transformations for myself.
JC: You clearly moved back and forth between different sketchbooks at the same time. Was this done systematically or according to which sketchbook came to hand? What was the effect of shuttling between different sketchbooks?
KW: It was so I could see the images at the same time as I sketched a new image from them.
Jim Dempsey: Was there a moment when you knew you were ready to jump from a sketch to a painting?
KW: My mind would be seeing different images and be in different places. but once it was focused on one place I knew it was ready to be a painting.
JC: We’ve noticed that there were drawings related to several of the paintings that were part of the first Hairy Who show that crop up in this sketchbook after the show has opened. This suggests that you were working on the same image later, maybe with additional paintings in mind. Is that right? Did you sometimes work backwards from paintings to sketches, or did they always terminate in a painting?
KW: I never worked backwards always from sketches or drawings to paintings but I would sometimes work on a series of related paintings from my sketchbook drawings. But I would reverse (change) focus on a new painting. A sketch often used more than one idea and so I would use those ideas for different paintings.
[interview taken and transcribed late June, 2020, by Ruby Wirsum]
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The Odd Awning Awed, 1966, acrylic on canvas, 33 x 29 inches
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Awful Awning, 1966, oil on canvas, 29 7/8 x 27 7/8 inches, Smart Museum of Art University of Chicago
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Spawning a Yawn with a Yellow Awning On, 1966, private collection
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Untitled, April 27, 1966, colored pencil and ball-point pen on sketchbook paper, 14 x 11 inches
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Untitled, January 5, 1966, colored pencil, graphite, and ball-point pen on sketchbook paper, 14 x 11 inches
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Drink Hear Ing Ade, 1966, acrylic on glass, decals, tape, and painted wood frame, 11 x 9 1/4 x 1 3/4 inches, private collection (photo by Jeremy Lawson, courtesy of the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College)
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Karl Wirsum, Drink Hearingade Made with Your Earplug in mind, 1966, acrylic on glass, tape measure, decals, metal hardware, and painted wood frame, 22 x 20 1/2 x 3/4 inches, private collection (photo by Jeremy Lawson, courtesy of the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College)
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