Rituals

A series of forty ink and watercolor drawings on paper, 11"×13" (2014)

Rituals evolved from Waxman’s subjective imagery and from the act of drawing a single form or object in multiple repetitions. This repetitive ritual of drawing and painting brings to the surface of the artist’s consciousness the many combinations of associations that she, and we, the viewer, have with the body and memory. The “ritual” of drawing in repetition is Waxman’s main tool for questioning, searching, and developing a conceptual language. With each movement of the hand in a given series, the artist expands on a single idea in the form of a line, shape, or brushstroke, until it is no longer one idea, but the many possibilities present in that idea. The body for her is an expansion, flourishing, in movement, touching what lies beyond through its infinite possibilities.

As viewers, we can find meaning in these works through a dialogue between what is seen and how one responds, based on our unique personal perceptions and the many meanings and ideas which we each associate with the body. Waxman’s pieces can be seen as individual works and as a whole collective memory. These rituals, represented in lines and brushstrokes, do not refer to another reality except themselves.

Throughout her works, Waxman uses the pictorial vocabulary of monochromatic tones, botanical elements, circular shapes, curves, and lines that remind the viewer of life and creation, their references to planets and the cosmos, birth, and the round arc of the pregnant mother. The artist’s lines create boundaries as well as the awareness that our movements are linked and interconnected. In a culture where language is everything, the physical working of an idea—drawing in repetition—is a complex and fascinating concept that explores all the meanings and ideas which we send, possess, and receive through non-verbal, non-written means. In the exhibition Rituals, Nava Waxman presents works which are actions in themselves, and meanings that require experience, not words, to be understood.

 Written by Natalie Rathwell

Exhibited at Wallspace Gallery, Ottawa

Catalogue design by Zarina Mail, MA, Gallery Associate

Curated by Patricia Barr