Michael Drebert
Michael Drebert’s artistic practice often takes the form of symbolic journeys, repeated gestures, small events and subtle ceremonies. For Drebert, empirical experience and personal encounters are critical ways of exploring the complexities of the natural world. In some cases, these passages are ends unto themselves; in others, they are motivated by a particular task or quest. The artist has, for example, travelled to distant sites to reunite objects and materials that have been separated over time. Closer to home, Drebert has developed a number of projects that involve daily practices, routines and invented customs. Elegant in their simplicity, these poetic and sensitive interventions often unfold within exhibition contexts as painted shapes, and texts using India ink on large pieces of paper–stories relayed by the traveller.
Seaward, 2022. 3’ x 3’, India ink on canvas, red cedar frame. Photo: NK Photo.
Lower Low, 2021. 3’ x 3’, India ink on canvas, red cedar frame.
Songs of Humans, 2020. 4’ x 4’, India ink on canvas, red cedar frame.
Eyes #1, 2022. 3’ x 3’, India ink on canvas, red cedar frame.
Eyes #2, 2022. 3’ x 3’, India ink on canvas, red cedar frame.
Freshet, 2022. 3’ x 3’, India ink on canvas, red cedar frame.
Hummock, 2022. 4’ x 4’, India ink on canvas, red cedar frame.
Fen, 2022. 3’ x 3’, India ink on canvas, red cedar frame.
Spur, 2022. 3’ x 3’, India ink on canvas, red cedar frame.
Little Attention, 2022. 4’ x 4’, India ink on canvas, red cedar frame.
Mussel Eyes (1 to 10), 2022. 2 x 1 3/4” x 1 3/4” x 1/4”, Crushed Pacific blue mussel (Mytilus trossuluss) shells, gesso.
Mussel Eyes (detail), 2022. 2 x 1 3/4” x 1 3/4” x 1/4”, Crushed Pacific blue mussel (Mytilus trossuluss) shells, gesso.