Night potographer
Close up of HYPERGRAPHIA
Gwyneth Leech, the Cup Drawings
in the Sprint Flatiron Prow Artspace, NYC
Sprint and Cheryl McGinnis Projects Present:
HYPERGRAPHIA: Gwyneth Leech, The Cup Drawings - Studio in the Prow
(Prow is a public art space, exhibit viewed 24 hours a day)
(Prow is a public art space, exhibit viewed 24 hours a day)
Sprint Artspace, Flatiron Building, NYC
where 5th Avenue and Broadway cross at 23rd Street.
where 5th Avenue and Broadway cross at 23rd Street.
I am drawing in the windows Tuesday - Saturday 11AM - 2PM
through Saturday, February 18.
Coffee Cups Reaching Around the Globe
Over 700 hundred of the resulting paper cup artworks are currently on show, suspended in the Prow of the historic Flatiron Building in the heart of Manhattan on 23rd Street where Fifth Avenue and Broadway intersect.
Curated by Cheryl McGinnis, the art installation is called "Hypergraphia: Gwyneth Leech, the Cup Drawings, Studio in the Prow" and has been described by reviewers as "spell-binding" and "a New York treasure".
I have been sitting in the windows of the Flatiron Prow five days a week since September 20, 2011 drawing and painting on ever more cups and adding them to the installation.
Now in its final month, the show closes on February 18th.
But there is still time to come to the Flatiron and see the artworks which are on view 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are intrepid, when I am present you can enter the Flatiron Prow through the adjacent Sprint store for conversation and to do some drawing of your own.
For the past four months visitors from around the globe have been doing exactly that and sharing their experiences virally on hundreds of blogs and photo sites in a dozen different languages.
Read some here: Articles and blogs
or here: Cheryl McGinnis Gallery
"Gwyneth Leech: Hypergraphia, the Cup Drawings"
installation in the Faltiron Prow, NYC.
Photo by Bernard Klevicakas
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I am thrilled to announce that the latest version of my drawing-on-used-paper-coffee-cups project
will be at the FLATIRON BUILDING, NYC,
in the glass windows (the Prow)
where 5th Avenue and Broadway cross at 23rd Street.
I will be drawing in the windows Tuesday - Saturday 11AM - 2PM
from September 20 - February 18.
Yes, five months. Yes, that's some commitment.
Bring me one of your own used paper coffee cups
with your name and the date you drank the beverage written on the bottom.
and I will add it to the installation.
Two rules:
Wash out your cup first.
No Styrofoam!
For a full press release click here
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Hypergraphia goes to Buck House
for one day only!
1318 Madison Avenue, NYC
June 9th, 3 - 7 PM
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Set of Cityscape Cups
by Gwyneth Leech
India Ink on upcycled paper coffee cups
Cheryl McGinnis Projects Presents
HYPERGRAPHIA
Gwyneth Leech, the Cup Drawings
February 28 - April 1, 2011
Fashion Center Window Space at 215 West 38th Street
New York, NY 10028
New York, NY 10028
Monday - Friday, 9:00AM - 5:00PM
The artist will on-site drawing and adding to the installation
Monday - Friday, 11:30AM - 1:00PM
for information and purchase of cup drawings go to Cheryl McGinnis Gallery
An Installation of Drawings on Upcycled Paper Coffee Cups
With Leech's diverse background in painting, video, ceramics, calligraphy, wood engraving and other printmaking techniques, the cup series began as a casual outgrowth of her compelling urge to draw wherever she is. One day, without a sketchbook handy, Leech used what was available in the moment. The curved form, challenge of working with existing shapes, colors, and text, and the infinite possibilities of expressive variation became as addictive as the caffeinated beverage the cup once contained. In addition to raising issues of consumerism, post-consumer waste and environmental concerns the cups are essentially about what drawing is: a conversation between mark making and surface. Building, layering and obliterating through memory, observation and working from within, this meditative process begins with an initial response to each cup and takes on a life of its own.
With Leech's diverse background in painting, video, ceramics, calligraphy, wood engraving and other printmaking techniques, the cup series began as a casual outgrowth of her compelling urge to draw wherever she is. One day, without a sketchbook handy, Leech used what was available in the moment. The curved form, challenge of working with existing shapes, colors, and text, and the infinite possibilities of expressive variation became as addictive as the caffeinated beverage the cup once contained. In addition to raising issues of consumerism, post-consumer waste and environmental concerns the cups are essentially about what drawing is: a conversation between mark making and surface. Building, layering and obliterating through memory, observation and working from within, this meditative process begins with an initial response to each cup and takes on a life of its own.
Leech's range of subject has no boundaries. Her interest in fractal patterning and the fragmenting and meandering of memory and life itself offers an expansive, flowing, bottomless well of imagery, from figurative cityscapes, flora, fauna, mythological winged creatures, and dance performance to abstracted aerial marsh views, biomorphic forms and purely non-objective design. The list is endless because the work is infinite and ongoing. Unlike working on a flat plane, drawing in the round also affords a connectivity of shapes and continuous movement.
Before any drawing begins, Leech records the date, location and related circumstances on the bottom of each cup after it has been rinsed. Combining traditional and non-traditional materials including Faber Castell brush pens, gel pens, white-out pens, Sumi ink, oil or acrylic paint with encaustic and/or polymer varnish with ultra-violet protection, Leech transforms the ubiquitous paper coffee cup into a chance to hold her imagination and her New York City in the palm of your hand.
Inspired by the nearly extinct art of letter writing, an integral extension of this project is Leech's blog, Gwyneth's Full Brew, featuring cup drawings along with "vivid New York slice of life stories about the vagaries and incidental pleasures of being an artist in this crowded, expensive, crazy and inspiring city."
Artist's Bio
Gwyneth Leech earned her BA at the University of Pennsylvania and a BFA and Post Graduate DA at Edinburgh College of Art, UK. The recipient of numerous awards and grants, including a Glasgow District Council's European Capital of Culture Project Grant, Scottish Arts Council Time Based Media Award, University of Colorado's President's Fund Grant and Elizabeth Greenshields Memorial Award, Leech's work resides in important private and public collections such as the American Museum, Bath, UK; British Broadcasting Corporation; Dumfries and Galloway Regional Council, UK; Edinburgh City Art Galleries; Royal Bank of Scotland; Strathclyde University, UK and the Theater Royal, Glasgow. Museum shows and gallery exhibitions include the Southwest Minnesota State University Art Museum, Marshall, MN; La MaMa La Galleria, NYC; Ayr Art Gallery and Museum, UK; Kilmarnock Art Gallery and Museum, UK; Dundee Museum of Natural History, UK; and the Gallery of Contemporary Art, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, CO
About Cheryl McGinnis Projects
Throughout the life of Cheryl McGinnis Gallery, our primary interest has been to engage collectors and patrons with a deeper look at the artist's process by hosting interactive gallery talks, artist studio tours, and Art-E, an educational program for children and adults. As one of the first contemporary art dealers to offer this dialogue, our mission is to expand this conversation. We will open our 2011 season by launching Cheryl McGinnis Projects, a new series of process-oriented installations with related experiential events and workshops that take the artist and viewer outside of the traditional gallery space and into the space and mind of the artist.
To introduce our first pop-up space, we are delighted to partner with Manhattan's Fashion Center Business Improvement District and Fashion Center Space for Public Arts Program with Hypergraphia: Gwyneth Leech, The Cup Drawings, an installation of 300 plus drawings on upcycled take-out paper coffee cups in the Fashion Center window space at 215 W. 38th Street. With our history of representing work about domestic environment, it seems fitting to begin here. Since people are no longer tethered to homes and offices due to the rapid advancements in wireless and computer technology and the nonstop pace of 21st century life, this exhibit explores how, instead of giving up that domestic sensibility, women create a new one wherever they find themselves. Art integrates with life on the go as passers-by, many with their own take-out beverage in hand, will experience the installation of cups growing and changing each day.
Continuing our commitment to arts education, we will host seminars for adults at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and provide drawing workshops for children with Gwyneth Leech at our gallery space on Saturdays. We feel strongly that the more we expose children to art, not just the making of art in school, but to visual thinking in museums and galleries, and working with professional artists during existing exhibits, the better chance we have of creating future generations of cultured, critical thinking adults, which is desperately needed in a time when young people are spending hours surfing the net , texting and watching reality television. Workshop and seminar schedules will be available at Cheryl McGinnis Gallery, Art-E and on the Cheryl McGinnis and Art E Facebook pages.
For information and purchase of cup drawings
