Alighiero Boetti 1940-1994
Born and worked Italy
Aerei
1978
Ballpoint pen on paper mounted on canvas
The UBS Art Collection
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Aerei belongs to a series of large-scale drawings made by the Italian
artist Aligheiro e Boetti during the 1970s. The drawings are characterised
by the use of either a blue, black, red or green ballpoint pen to create rows
of parallel marks. This time-consuming, zen-like, repetitive gesture contrasts
with other techniques employed within the same work. The bold graphic drawings
of aeroplanes that appear to fly across the canvas, for example, were by specially
commissioned cartoon artists.
Cy Twombly 1928
Born USA, works Italy
Untitled
1971-2
Cementito, wax crayon, graphite
The UBS Art Collection
Twombly's drawing is dominated by the grid and the urgent pencil lines. It
is only under close inspection that the versatility of its energetic marks
gradually emerges. The pencil lines are accompanied by equally strong indentations
grazed into the surface. Areas of white paint also provide a surface for
delicate imprints. Within these layers lie a wealth of possible marks charged
with action and emotion.
Willem de Kooning 1904-1997
Born Netherlands, worked USA
Untitled
c1950
Pastel and charcoal on paper
The UBS Art Collection
This pastel and charcoal abstract composition is typical of the work produced
by de Kooning’s work from the 1950s. Exploring the relationship between form,
line and colour, it conveys a sense of energy and dynamism with its frantic
marks and swirling composition. De Kooning established his reputation as
an Abstract Expressionist painter in the mid-twentieth century, when he was
resident in New York City.
Helen
Frankenthaler 1928
Born and works USA
Untitled
1961
Oil and coloured crayons on paper
The UBS Art Collection
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Frankenthaler is one of the leading figures of the ‘second generation’ of
Abstract Expressionists, and her work shares their concern with spontaneity
and gestural brushstrokes. ‘A really good picture looks as if it's happened
at once’, she has said. ‘It's an immediate image… though I think very often
it takes ten of those over-laboured efforts to produce one really beautiful
wrist motion that is synchronised with your head and heart, and you have
it, and therefore it looks as if it were born in a minute.’
Vija Celmins 1938
Born Latvia, works USA
Galaxy #1 (Coma Berenices)
1973
Graphite and acrylic on paper
The UBS Art Collection
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Although principally a painter, Celmins is also known for her intensely-worked
drawings, often depicting vast empty spaces, whether oceans, deserts or the
night sky. ‘I began to see that the graphite itself had a certain life to
it’, she has said. ‘Even though you may think they (the galaxy drawings)
came from lying under the stars, for me, they came out of loving the blackness
of the pencil. It’s almost as if I was exploring the blackness of the pencil
along with the image that went with it.’
Chuck Close 1940
Born and works USA
Self Portrait
1995
Pencil, marker and india ink on paper
The UBS Art Collection
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This pixilated image of the artist has been built up point by point on a
cellular grid. Close is known for his photorealist paintings and portraits,
which are often based on photographs. In 1988 he became a quadriplegic following
a spinal artery collapse. However, he has continued to draw and paint, with
a brush or pencil gripped between his teeth or strapped to his hand.
Martin Kippenberger 1953-1997
Born and worked Germany
Untitled 1989
Untitled 1989
Acrylic, graphite, ink and watercolour on paper
The UBS Art Collection
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Kippenberger made hundreds of drawings on hotel stationery, works that appear
to embody a fixed place and time in his travels. However, though he often
lived in hotels for weeks or even months, he often acquired the notepaper
from other sources, without staying at the hotel. The stationery became,
like so many things he encountered, a readymade material for his art.
Maria Kontis 1969
Born and works Australia
Spread Out Across the World
2006
Pastel on velvet paper
The UBS Art Collection
Using pastels on velvet paper, Kontis creates a convincingly realistic image.
She often uses drawing to depict various kinds of documents: photographs
and newspapers are common in her work. Here she plays with the illusion of
a photograph of two tourists on Bondi Beach. The layer of pastel creates
a kind of veil which separates the viewer from the original image.
Edward Ruscha 1937
Born and works USA
Coiled Paper
1973
Gunpowder on paper
Accordian Fold with Vaseline Stains
1973
Gunpowder and vaseline on paper
The UBS Art Collection
Ruscha takes a playful approach to drawing, working with a range of unlikely
materials including blood, egg yolk and here gunpowder. The self-reflexive
quality of these two works extends to their subject, both depicting blank
pieces of paper. The accordion fold carries associations with one of Ruscha’s
best-known works, a fold-out book depicting every building on LA’s Sunset
Strip.
Philip Guston 1913-1980
Born Canada, worked USA
Artist in His Studio
1969
Charcoal on paper
The UBS Art Collection
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Guston’s cartoonish figures appear to be as related to the comic strip tradition
as they are to the history of art. This drawing shows Guston in the guise
of a hooded Ku Klux Klansman working on a self-portrait in his studio. Having
become established as an Abstract Expressionist painter, Guston turned to
figurative painting and drawing in the 1960s. He intended his images to be
interpreted in the light of the political violence of the decade and often
used the figure of the Klansman as a kind of ironic self-portrait.
David Hockney 1937
Born Britain, works USA
To Queens, New York
1961
Graphite, coloured crayons, rubber stamp and oil on paper
The UBS Art Collection
This work dates from Hockney’s first visit to New York in summer 1961. It
reflects his interest in creating a narrative without relying on realistic
figurative imagery. Fragments of text, perhaps from advertising slogans,
snatches of overheard speech or business logos, accompany a graffiti-like
figure (with gleeful devil’s horns) to suggest the artist’s exploration of
the city.
Michele Zalopany 1955
Born and works USA
City of the Gods
1986
Charcoal and pastel on paper
The UBS Art Collection
Zalopany is known for her large-scale realist paintings. This drawing depicts
the ancient city of Teotihuacán in Mexico. Looking down from the Pyramid
of the Moon, it shows the Avenue of the Dead and the Pyramid of the Sun.
The scale of the drawing and its soft, flowing lines suggest an affinity
with the Mexican Muralists, with whom Zalopany shares a concern with social
history.