~DEVENDRA BANHART .. drawing
DEVENDRA BANHART is ALSO .. quite an accomplished artist – as in: visual arts.
his touch is very hands-on, inward, dreamy, symbolic .. musical. lyrical. mysterious. revelatory.
it speaks, it SINGS .. of the inter-relatedness of man & cosmos. man & body. man & imagination/mind. man & inner world. man & dreams.
man & the ‘trail’, the ‘path’ .. of creative thought.
back when he first hit NEW YORK CITY, he used to show his work at various group shows, and at CANADA GALLERY.
this is a piece he had in WHITE BOX gallery, a political show, just before some election, or something like that.
‘hands’ usually play a featured role in the drawings .. as in guitar ? as in Middle Eastern ‘palm up’ ?
as in eastern Indian mythology .. as in: the hand you are dealt ?!!
you can see the hands evolving here, at each side .. at the bottom .. border corners. and the ‘capping’ hand at the center – top.
instead of big sweeps of line or gesture, his work usually is built up with small, rhythmic elements .. often in pairs.
much like how a musician uses notes, and harmony.
pairs: yin. yang. male. female.
l-o-v-e ?
DEVENDRA BANHART, drawing on paper. NYC. MAY 5, 2004
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH