Gregory Saunders (American/Florida, b. 1952)

Gregory Saunders (American/Florida, b. 1952) , "Arrangement of Appalachian Objects No. 1", graphite and powdered graphite on paper, unsigned, 60 3/8 in. x 125 in., framed. Note: Gregory Saunders' work elevates drawing - a medium that is traditionally used more as a preparatory material. With intense focus on detail, his drawings are often mistaken for photographs. Saunders’ has developed a labor-intensive method of layering powdered graphite with acrylic spray that allows for extremely subtle tonal ranges within the grey scale. This method enables him to capture even the slightest effect of light on or in a subject, but the process is a painstaking one, often taking over four hundred hours per drawing to complete. In addition to focusing on a medium that is often overlooked, Saunders also chooses subjects he refers to as “overdone” in an attempt to take a “cliché” and render it with such focus and intensity that it is imbued with new life. He describes his drawings thus: “My work deals with dichotomy and contradiction; the methods I employ are contemporary, the materials traditional….I intend to challenge both contemporary and traditional concepts of art by presenting drawing which is not line, painting without color and sculpture that is two dimensional. My work submits the clichéd image as a contemporary object.” The monumental work offered here exemplifies Saunders' use of scale, attention to detail and choice of subject. In "Arrangement of Appalachian Objects No. 1," he creates a powerful vertical design composed of tipped planes of sun-dappled stone that interlock with architectural certainty, an effect accentuated by the deep shadows which make the rocks seem to loom with weighty dimensionality. Ref.: Saunders, Gregory. “Statement.” Gregory B. Saunders. www.gregorysaunders.com. Accessed July 29, 2020