Standing in front of my rucksack drawings.

After spending so much time drawing this rucksack I realised how much I’ve come to associate it with myself. I’ve anthropomorphized my bag. It’s a very human thing to do, and something I do each time I draw an object.

As with my other drawings I used black oil pastel on paper, which I’ve then glued to card and cut-out to give a three-dimensional effect; which I hope brings some of the physical characteristics of objects back to the drawings, otherwise drawings can have a habit of looking rather flat.

Drawing in my studio.

Drawing a rucksack in my studio, using a black oil pastel on paper.

I work with oil pastels and oil bars, which are effectively pieces of oil paint and take a long time to dry. I’ve tried many drawing materials and oild pastel is best at producing a dark solid line. Graphite seems to produce only a weak grey line and marker pens don’t have the depth of oil pastel which raises up off of the page. I try to increase this effect by mounting the drawings on card and then cutting them out.

Cut-out drawings of objects by Paul Doeman. 13th – 22nd August Wednesday – Sunday 12-6pm

You’re an animate object, a sum of many parts. Just like a rucksack, chair or ladder you can be taken apart. What is it to be an object? Is what something is just the product of its many functions?
Animate objects was the name of an exhibition I put on in 1998; this show is named  ”Animate objects #2″ with a view to continuing some of those ideas.

Life-size drawings in oil pastel on paper and cut-out, dance and show-off the personalities of some of the objects that surround us.

The exhibition is at 242 gallery, 242 Cambridge Heath Road, London, E2 9DA.

Closest Tube: Bethnal Green.  National railway: Cambridge Heath station. View Larger Map

Animate Objects #2 Exhibition

Drawings of a collapsible chair - drawn with oil pastel on paper, cut-out and mounted on cardboard.

Discection of a speedball: Drawings. 10 drawings of a boxing speedball in black oil paste, cut out and put on cardboard.

Me in front of a large group of skeleton drawings, close to being finished for my next exhibition.

I’m completing two pieces of work for my forthcoming exhibition. A much larger studio space is allowing me to better organise my work; I can get a good distance from it and see my drawings as objects again.

I’ve been drawing with oil pastel on paper, which gives me a fast way of making a solid mark, it also means I have to be careful not to make any mistakes as the pastel is very difficult to remove from the paper. After speaking with a painter in a neighbouring studio I’m going to try treating the paper to seal it, that’ll likely influence the way I draw a little, I won’t need to worry about errors, which can be wiped away.

This picture of me posing in front of the work should hopefully give you a better idea of its scale. There’s some more organisation of the separate drawings to be done, then it’ll be finished.

As I get a chance to look at the work in a larger space I’m reminded of why I

Collapsible bar stool and skeletons drawings in the studio.

made it; I’m interested in enjoying reality for what it is, rather than attempting to create a fiction. I strongly believe that we are surrounded by the most valuable and amazing objects and situations, which we cast aside or don’t even notice, in a pursuit of a more imaginary world.

Isn’t It Enough to See That a Garden Is Beautiful Without Having to Believe That There Are Fairies at the Bottom of It Too? – Douglas Adams.

Rather than being a sign of character, an interest in the meaning of life or a rich imagination, isn’t an interest in the supernatural and celebrity actually a sign of people wishing to escape? Whilst there can be much that we find uncomfortable in the real world there ‘s  already more surrounding us right now that is beyond our imagination and worthy of our attention.

Never have we had so much and never have we taken so little notice of it.

I’ve got a bigger space than I had a Cables street Which will be useful as I prepare for my show in August.

Drawings of a tall folding stool in black oil pastel.

4 cut-out skeleton drawings.

I’ve been drawing more objects including a flexible skeleton and folding bar stool.
I continue to draw objects in an obsessive way, from many angles and as close to life-size as I can using black oil pastels and oil bars.

I try to draw shapes honestly as they really are rather than consciously trying to abstract them – though abstraction is an inevitable part of visual representation. I want to represent some of the functionality of objects, with the idea that an object’s function informs it’s identity and personality.

By mounting these drawings on card and then cutting them out I hope to emphasise their 3D nature.

Some life-size skeleton drawings I've been working on.

Drawing of the review of a skeleton in progress.

I’ve spent the last two weeks drawing two skeletons. One has a flexible spine, the other a rigid back.

The flexible skeleton has produced more interesting and naturalistic drawings, I can put more energy into the work.
The human skeleton is either a collection of objects (bones) or, in the form I am drawing it, a single object in its own right.

Drawing a skeleton like this allows me to approach a figurative subject in a way that should bypass superficial characteristics like skin colour and to some extent gender.
We all have a skeleton and most of us have a complete skeleton, so you can imagine yourself in the various poses I’ve drawn.