event
Curators' Talk_ Reinventing Silverpoint

About the event

REINVENTING SILVERPOINT: An Ancient Technique for the 21st Century
Curators: Susan Schwalb, Margaret Mathews-Berenson

Curators' Talk: October 10, 2009

Metalpoint drawings, applied with a metal tip of lead, silver, copper, gold or other metal on coated paper, were in widespread use during the Renaissance. In the early decades of the 20th century artists took up silverpoint for its precision and subtlety. For this exhibition, the curators have brought together five artists using various metals in contemporary and experimental ways. Each artist extends this age-old drawing medium in new ways through their use of subject, scale or technique.

At a time when art is being redefined by new and rapidly changing digital tools and technology that often deny the man-made mark, silverpoint offers artists a connection with a potent creative tradition. The fine delicate lines inevitably reveal the artist’s hand: an affirmation of human presence. The radiant metallic glint offers evidence of both its endurance and its mutability. Though technically cumbersome, its newfound expansiveness and adaptability have a special attraction for the artists in REINVENTING SILVERPOINT. A drawing medium made for quiet meditation, silverpoint remains a venerable instrument of intimate communication for artists today and provides welcome distraction from the dizzying pace of our technocentric world for artist and viewer alike.
–Margaret Mathews-Berenson