APALAZZOGALLERY

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c/o ACE, Via dei Piatti 6, cit. 10
20123 Milan

MON-SUN 11 A.M. TO 7 P.M.

ARTISTS:
Nathlie Provosty
Carol Rama (Collezione Ramo)

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Nathlie Provosty answers questions from.
Irina Zucca Alessandrelli, curator of the Collezione Ramo

What is drawing for you?
Drawing is an action of sight that snaps into gesture, bypassing thought. I prefer wet media - ink primarily - due to the pleasure of its flow and the certainty of its statement. I'm undogmatic about the parameters of drawing - ASL, or a body dancing, or a graphic rendering all qualify. Thinking weaves and skirts the process, sometimes to guide matters, other times just to stare.

Which techniques and creative processes do you use when working on paper?
The exhibited works have variable beginnings. One came from a dream of Richard Tuttle and Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge sitting in front of the tomb of a Pashtun Muslim saint, Hazrat Babajan, rolling around and laughing. I began not knowing what the image would look like, but going for the feeling of waves curling and rolling, lightness, and with pink somewhere. The piece came out so well, and unexpectedly, that I decided to make a series from it, transferring that first drawing with tracing paper onto a second sheet and then proceeding intuitively. Other drawings began with a random ink blot, then developed without a preconception of the final appearance. Occasionally I saw the image in my third eye and then went after it very directly.
I always develop ideas in a series, with the parameters limited by a particular size and type of paper, and medium (in this case pen dipped in an ink well, with some use of a sable brush, gouache and collage). The agenda of these works was to expand the scope of my mark-making and create deeper space.
Simultaneous to the described drawings, which are "works" in themselves, are a secondary type: my working drawings. These happen with pencil in the sketchbook. Directly related to developing paintings, they explore image ideas and problem-solve. Fast and messy, they can entail much erasure and tweaking.

Why did you choose this work from Collezione Ramo?
When choosing the work from Collezione Ramo, I asked myself one question: which work do I want to see in person? Carol Rama's made the final list. Then I thought, which do I want to see with mine? The Rama I selected similarly deals with marks in space, with an inner and outer logic, so I thought it would be interesting.

What value does the dialogue with modern drawing have for you?
The Modern era was characterized by radical shifts in what constitutes art, in the west and globally. The industrial and social revolutions that preceded and accompanied this era (and continue) have propelled a massive expansion of what art looks like. I think most people know this.
Modern Drawing has value for me on a case by case basis (what turns me on). My preferences are ahistorical in this sense: I'm willing to love anything from anytime, anywhere. It is the direct expression of human marking -- regardless of era -- that is endlessly fascinating to decode, and hopefully be moved by. However, I recognize that I couldn't be here today without those that came before, so I am grateful, and always interested.