“Gagged”
Nupastel, carbon soot, on paper
38 x 24 in. ©
Using a fully engage working process, Onajide Shabaka’s various drawings use somewhat violent techniques in their creation by burning, erasing, rubbing, and smoking his surfaces. Not only are their emotional content highly charged, the creative process it brought about through a fully charged engagement with both the subject and medium. The burning and smoking of the drawing, though not destroying the paper’s surface, it creates a texture that mutes and highlights the line drawings, both at the same time leaving it with a translucence and aura.