Stop Bullying: Ball point pen drawings at The Cité Internationale des Arts

Bullfight

Last week I watched a CNN news broadcast featuring a rise in bulling amongst kids and decided to feature a series of ballpoint pen drawings developed round the theme of bulling. The CNN topic is Stop Bullying: Speak Up - Fifty-fifty chance your kid is a bully. Follow link for full story.

"If the saying, 'sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never harm me' was ever true, it certainly is not so today," said Josephson "Insults, name calling, relentless teasing, and malicious gossip often inflict deep and enduring pain." Cited on CNN website October 27, 2010 - Study: Half of high school students admit to bullying

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The concepts and individual drawings showcased below were produced in Paris, during a three month residency at Cite internationale des Arts.

The Cité Internationale des Arts

The foundation provides a studio and is intended to provide short and long stays (2 months to 1 year) for professional artists who want to develop artistic work in France. The Cité Internationale des Arts is a foundation directed to the public benefit since 1957. Since its opening in 1965, the Cité Internationale des Arts has accommodated more than 18 000 artists from all over the world. The site where I stayed, one of two (the other located at Montmartre) is located at 18 rue de l’Hôtel de Ville includes 270 individual workshops in the heart of the Marais district, a dynamic quarter swarming with art galleries and a favourite destination for Parisians.

Friends in my studio.

My stay at the Cite - for me it was an incredible experience - visiting local Galleries and Museums, drawing inspiration from countless artifacts in historically significant collections displayed to maximum effect. Seeing artifacts, maquettes and sculptures in the flesh, and rendering them in quick ballpoint pen drawings, contributed significantly to the development of my vocabulary of sculptural forms, shapes and textures. The stay richly increased my visual art knowledge and provided me with an opportunity to consolidate my ceramic sculptural concepts and innovative ideas in terms of ceramic techniques and processes. Contemporary Art exhibitions in nearby art galleries enriched my knowledge of cutting edge art theory and practice.

Scanned Ballpoint pen drawings of "Bullies" on side plates.

Minotaur painting Picasso.

The drawing above and below were inspired by a series of art works by Picasso - referring in particular to his minotaur series of etchings produced during a decision making period in his life (crises) - subject matter that featured in many art works from thereon (image on the left). He had to make a choice with regard to parenthood and his commitment as an artist. Professor John O. Jordan, Department of Literature, University of California gave a talk in 1991 at Wits University in South Africa on the subject tiled "Picasso, the Minotaur, and the `Renunciation' of Art."