Drawings / 26 August - 12 September 2008

John Leech Gallery is pleased to present Drawings - a selection of fine works on paper that demonstrate the subtle beauty of articulated line.

Drawing is considered fundamental to an artist’s practice. It is a necessary tool within the creative process - a way of navigating and developing ideas and experimenting with form, line and composition. Drawn studies are a fascinating insight into the preliminary stages of observation and overall evolution of a finished artwork. In some cases a drawing approximates a first impression, the sketch conveying immediacy and spontaneity. In other cases it may become a fully resolved work in itself.

Largely overlooked due to the perseverance of conventional art historical hierarchies, drawing is an elemental act of human creativity offering a rich and varied form of visual expression.

Featuring Pat Hanly, Tony Fomison, Frances Hodgkins, Gordon Walters, Dick Frizzell, Ralph Hotere, Colin McCahon, Theo Schoon, Martin Ball and Michael Hight, the exhibition also includes an important collection of early drawings by Colonel Robert Henry Wynyard.