Ellen Grossman


Since you’ve probably all seen this charming video of Jay-Z meeting artist Ellen Grossman on the subway, it only seems fitting to feature her incredible work on A&SJ.

These highly-detailed drawings mimic those of topographic sciences, “mapping surfaces” as one would map terrain. The result is a careful study in two, even three, dimensions. By recording the date and time of each drawing session, Grossman invites the variable of observation into the process, recalling the uncertainty principle. She writes of her work:

“Lines build up, revealing the topography of surges, shifts, eruptions, trickles, and the wind made visible. Time also flows, so I began recording the date, hour and minute at the start and end of each line and running totals. This is daunting and that’s part of the point: Written numbers build up, forcing the lines to fan out, reading at first glance as a texture, radically changing the drawings. As in science recording observations can alter results.”

See more of Grossman’s work here.

- Erin Saunders

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Rithika Merchant

In this series, Origin of Species, Rithika Merchant explores hybrid creatures. She describes this project as an investigation into “the duality within nature and the idea of many selves in conversation with each other.”

When making her works, Merchant first figures out how she wants the creatures to interact. This is followed by research, which includes looking at pictures animals and plants, specifically, Botanical Drawings from the 18th and 19th Century. Merchant is also inspired by tribal art. Her favourite is the art of the Gond people, a tribe in central India. The inspiration behind the works, together with the arbitrary colouring throughout this series, make the works come alive. 

In her most recent series, Merchant deals with comparative mythology. As she describes the series, “I explore the common thread that runs through different cultures and religions. Similar versions of all these myths, stories and ideas are shared by cultures all around the world.I use creatures and symbolism that are part of my personal visual vocabulary to explore these narratives.” Currently she is re-interpreting the idea of the monomyth, the story of the hero, from the perspective of the heroine. To see more of Merchant’s works, click here.

- Lee Jones

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Mark Nystrom’s Wind Drawings

Inspired by the simple sight of a leaf dancing across snow, American artist Mark Nystrom created his elegant Wind Drawings series in which a pen equipped with sails records one day’s wind conditions. Visual interpretations of wind and other invisible natural phenomena are always fascinating, and Nystrom’s drawings are no exception as they begin to characterize, even humanize the wind. While some drawings show clear patterns — implying a strong wind from a consistent direction — others are erratic and confused. One drawing from a very calm day only registers a tiny, barely visible, speck of movement.

You can look at more of Nystrom’s wind explorations and other projects at his website here. 

- Erin Saunders

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