This content was published: May 10, 2018. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
Drawing Notes: Mark Licari
Rock Creek Helzer Gallery
May 10 to May 23, 2018
Mark Licari, a renowned Los Angeles, CA based artist who creates murals, drawings, prints, and sculptures in his own whimsical and energetic style, worked collaboratively with Rock Creek painting and drawing students to create a site-specific mural installation in the gallery. Licari was hosted by the Arts and English Division hosted through annual funding from the ASPCC for the visiting artist program.
Licari’s engaging work often depicts the clash between the natural and synthetic worlds. “My drawings tell stories which interweave the natural world and human world in ways that exposes absurdities and weaknesses, but also the fantastic potential of our man-made and natural systems. In these drawings the themes of ecology, energy, architecture and technology intersect to form whimsical happenings which engage with their physical surroundings.”
Licari planned to use experimental and intuitive approach to creating the mural with the students. “I will direct a very simple composition by positioning students throughout the gallery and encouraging them to draw in different scales, thickness of line, and even overlap drawings. We will use basic black and white drawing materials, pens, pencils, brushes and ink. While working with the students I will be both drawing coach and fellow artist. By embracing the process of experimentation and collaboration through drawing I hope to give the students a new art experience that tells a unique story.”
About the visiting artist
Mark Licari has presented solo exhibitions internationally in venues such as the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library, San Diego, CA, the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, Belgium, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL, Disjecta, Portland, OR, the Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA, Galerie Valérie Cueto, Paris, France, and the Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA. His work has been presented at the 7th Bulgarian International Triennial of Graphic Art: Contemporary US Printmaking, Sofia, Bulgaria, the 5th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, “More Light,” Moscow, Russia, and the 18th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. He has created murals and site-specific installations in numerous venues, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA.
View a video about the exhibition