The second performance will be Panel Drawing, which is a door-sized panel of timber with two arm-sized holes cut into it. The piece is held up by two people, each with one arm through one of the two holes, they then draw on the opposite side of the panel with oilstick, graphite and charcoal. This work will be performed by a group of at least three people who will swap in and out to share the load of the object.

Drawing Furniture presents three drawing performances by Robbie Karmel, each framed by a piece of “Drawing Furniture”, a custom-built sculptural object built by Karmel to be drawn (like a model), drawn on as a ground (like paper), drawn on as a surface (like an easel), and drawn with (like a stick in the sand), often while being climbed on, worn, or carried.

Karmel’s drawing practice explores making marks with graphite, charcoal, and oilstick that show the body in form and gesture as it is felt through touch and proprioception as much as it is seen. These works explore practice in isolation, in the case of ladder drawing, and as a collaborative and communal process, in the case of Panel Drawing and Headbox, both of which were first explored before the COVID 19 pandemic, and take on new dimensions with the introduction of social distancing measures, the broader economic and social stresses that the pandemic has brought, and the both universal and highly individualised experiences of isolation, distance and touch.