Drawing, as a process, is how an artist studies our world and a drawing, as a finished work, is how an artist teaches the world. As an artist I draw to study and better understand our world. Camille Pissarro said, “It is only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that one fine day you discover to your surprise that you have rendered something in its true character.”  I strive to capture this “true character” in my work; that when I render the figure or a portrait we can see the character, or the essence of the person.  Although I draw so that I can understand and render the figure in its true character, my work goes beyond that of figure studies and into social commentary.

My current work is a series of layered drawings that deal with how technology, clothing, and personal adornment create a filter through which we view others and how we, ourselves, are viewed. The bottom layer is a charcoal drawing on paper of the figure. The top layer is drafting vellum, a semi-transparent paper, with an ink and colored pencil drawing representing the social filter.

Drawings are an excellent way to explain social concepts, like filters, because they are personal, immediate, and intimate works of art. Fortunately, it happens to be that people are personal, immediate, and intimate beings.  This connection allows drawings to communicate to the world the artist’s concept in a truly powerful way.

Dustin Hinton
07 April 2009