When a friend asked for a small drawing on a Post-It note to add to his growing collection of artworks on the iconic yellow square, Aron Wiesenfeld obliged. The North Carolina-based artist rendered one of his introspective scenes and enjoyed the process enough to create an entire series on the 3 x 3-inch canvas.
Wiesenfeld has since created dozens of drawings in black ink, translating the mystery and ennui of his paintings onto the scaled-down surface. In one work, an open dresser drawer reveals a toddler tucked inside, while another piece depicts a child listlessly watching a record turn. The artist rarely plans a drawing before putting ink to paper and challenges himself to capture the same depth, moods, and stories of his larger works with much more minimal tools. He shares:
It forces you to be very economical since you only have 10 to 20 lines to make a cloud or a field of grass. I have so much respect for cartoonists who do that well, like R. Crumb or Edward Gorey…Because the drawings are so small, every movement of the hand is magnified when seen on a screen, and the lines seem more fluid or spontaneous than a larger drawing might be.
In October, Wiesenfeld will show some of his larger oil paintings at James Freeman Gallery in London. He periodically adds his Post-It drawings to his shop and plans to publish a book of the works later this year. Follow news about those releases on his Instagram.
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