Joseph Drapell
Canadian, born The Czech Republic, born 1940Gates of Life, 1998
Not on view
Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions84 × 95 in. (213.4 × 241.3 cm)
Gift of Anne Low, 2008.355
Joseph Drapell made an important discovery in 1983 when he began using a customized tool that resembles a steel comb with curved teeth. Dragging the tool through layers of color suspended in acrylic gel, he achieves uniform corduroy-like textured lines, capturing light in angled reflections. For different effects, Drapell now uses a variety of tools where the grooves are spaced and shaped differently. In some areas of his paintings, he 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 the tool with paint. Drapell paints like a musician improvises—staccato one moment, long, slow notes another.
