09 November 2012

Text-based drawings: William Powhida

William Powhida's text-based drawings capture some of the emotional experience of being an artist. "By turns sad, true, and laugh-out-loud funny, his schadenfreude-inducing drawings call out the major players, poke fun at the artist as a brand, and divulge the art world’s dirty little secrets," said Bean Gilsdorf, interviewing him on dailyserving.com.
William Powhida, Cynical Advice (from here)
He starts with a draft but each sentence morphs as he draws it. "I want the drawings to be the experience of being in somebody’s head and listening to them think about the art world," he says.
William Powhida, Hope (from here)
The work - and his relationship with the artists he portrays - is rooted in the perception of power structures and the roles that people play.

Asked whether "any press is good press", he said: "Recognition is a big, needy area that can occupy an artist’s life. I thought there might be something interesting in naming things instead of omitting them, but I’m not trying to reify anyone’s position."

More pix are at http://powhida.tumblr.com

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