Joseph Drapell
Canadian, born The Czech Republic, born 1940Dark Horse, 1995
Not on view
Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions77 × 73 in. (195.6 × 185.4 cm)
Museum purchase with funds from the Collection Endowment, and partial gift of the artist, 2000.33
Joseph Drapell made an important discovery in 1983 when he began using a custom tool, something that resembles a steel comb with curved teeth. Dragging the tool through fields of color suspended in gel, he achieved a uniform line of corduroy texture, carving a pattern through fields of color and bringing more light into the painting through angled reflections. For different effects, Drapell now uses a variety of tools where the grooves are spaced and shaped differently. In other areas of his paintings, Drapell applies color with brushes or even with his fingertips.
He continues to work on variations of this technique, in a process that combines both conscious decision-making - colors, thickness of the paint, shape of the canvas - and unconscious factors expressed through the gestures of the hand and interaction of tool with paint. Drapell paints like a musician improvises - staccato one moment, long, slow note another. The movements are not planned nor can the reaction of the materials be predetermined. Clearly, Drapell is aware of the role of the subconscious in painting; as he has said, "chance and accidents are some of the gateways to the unconscious. And without allowing the unconscious into his or her methods an artist cannot make great art."
