Wes Mills

Wes Mills used the etching press at Aurobora sparingly — either to create bone-colored flats or circular stain-like marks– printing on cream-toned Strathmore paper or Chineese rice paper.  These printed areas, which seem to simultaneously recede and pulsate within the paper field, became the initial springboard for Mills’s handwork — graphite line drawing, exacto knife-slits, and the adherence of archival hinging tissue.

Mills’s monotype drawings are about paring down even the essentials to expose a point of entry for the viewer.  Minimal use of color, form and line are directional signals towards the expanse and potential limitlessness that exist within (or left out of ) a composition.  A small, seemingly errant scratch mark, a thinly drawn architectural line just off center, a cloud of crushed graphite hovering toward a corner, a spotting of color tone, all speak to a possibility (or a lost chance) of intimacy that these drawings invite.

(Due to the way the artist executed these works, compositional detail is impossible to capture through photograghy.  Works are available for viewing in the gallery)

AUROBORA PROJECT

September 2000

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; The Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY; Rose Museum, Brandies University MA; Museum of Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM; The Harwood Museum, Taos, NM; Clara M. Eagle Gallery Murray, KY; Art Museum of Missoula, Missoula, MT