“Two drawings after last week's paintings and one from I think a year ago, in no particular order.” 2009, is a selection of work from artist Charles Veyron, made specifically in response to INTRODUCING Issue III. This series is developed from a studio practice that approaches the making of art in a systematic yet sensitive manner and acts as an index of sorts to Veyron’s process.

The title directly unravels the action behind the work, yet the implied aspect of time offers the audience different levels at which to interpret the work.  This unpacking of the process in the title is an action that runs through the entirety of Veyron’s studio practice, perfectly exemplified in: Untitled (Google Image: recent search), a series that has stretched over many years of Veyron’s practice.

The drawings for the new series sacrifice and counteract the usual efficiency of the digital procedure, although Veyron admits that the general outcome of the drawings is not particularly ‘heroic’; the digital drawing endeavors to recount every step of the ‘original’ painting's conception; it acts as a raw glossary of every action it designates.  The seemingly dry and unemotional approach is contradicted when one considers that each drawing attempts to come to terms with arbitrary and decisive moment: the fixation of each painting, creating an image as a windfall to the inordinate luxury of painting.  

The idea of achievement is not original to this piece; Premier Long, 2007 sees the artist on a stationary bike at the mid-way point of a leg of the Tour de France peddling nonstop for the average duration of the particular leg (4h22). Veyron tackles the notion of duration and endurance in art.

The seeming immediacy of these drawings forces the thought of time and dexterity, particularly in comparison to his series of large-scale drawings (part of Untitled (Google Image: recent search)). Veyron decided on the scale of these drawings based on the labour and time that were expected of him to invest in achieving the pieces. What does it mean to ‘do it to the best of my ability’? Does this practice alleviate the artist from the pedestal of Author-God, a notion presented by Roland Barthes, ultimately reexamining position of the artist today?   He surely shares this line of descent with several generations of artists. Doing 'his very best' is more precisely a violent and disappointing display of skills and intentions. Veyron mentions, "All there, all this only. Not so far from the see through strategies of the striving ass-kissing pupil that begs for homeworks." Still it could be an important part of his work and a move to take a step away from any palsy irony."

Although decidedly simple in nature, it could be read that the build up of these drawings allows for the feeling of an indulgent atmosphere where the idea of appropriation has come full circle as the artist makes the leap from sourcing from a tool of mass information to becoming self-referential. The tools of mass information provide sources that contain more stories than ever was intended. And it is to the painter and the viewer to sink and multiply them.

Untitled (Google Image: recent search), 2008, 70x50cm, acrylic on canvas (image taken from Veyron's studio)

video still from Premier Long, 2007, HDV, 4h22m37s

Untitled (Google Image: recent search), 2008, permanent marker on paper, 150x150cm (image taken from Veyron's studio)