Spills on The New York Times, newest works

by lindseymuscato

"limits," Spills on The New York Times, #4, graphite on paper, 22 inches x 24 inches, 2011

"grapple," Spills on The New York Times, #5, graphite on paper, 22 inches x 24 inches, 2011

Project description:

These drawings are studies of the newspaper as an object. I am looking at the newspaper with nostalgia, depicting the printed broadsheet in a moment between being commonplace and disposable and becoming an obsolete artifact, part of the morning ritual of another time. 

The scale of the drawings are 22 x 24 inches, to match the scale of the opened broadsheet. I am working at two speeds, using coffee to quickly spill onto the newspaper, and then translating the spills and underlying print into graphite renderings. The spills become small windows, framing fractions of the newspaper. I am interested in finding the line between abstraction and familiarity of the language and content of the printed news through these limited glimpses; each word either weighted with more meaning as it stands alone, or interrupted and left empty without context. I am interested in drawing the newspaper as both proverbial and ordinary, while also being painstakingly specific: a specific stain of coffee, on a particular printed page of the daily newspaper.

"limits," Spills on The New York Times, #4, detail

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