DrawBig
Large drawings by Milo Dlouhy, made over many years in a Calgary studio. Here you can see them, follow how they are made, and find out how they become settings for photography, film and the stage.
Each drawing grows slowly. Lines go down in graphite and ink, then pastel, gouache and charcoal build on top. The paper gets cut, burned, patched and drawn over again. Some of these drawings have been in the studio for more than a decade, and they keep changing.
The Collection shows each drawing as it stands today. Articles follow the work as it happens: drawings in progress, studio sessions, documents and news.
The drawings also become settings. Milo works alongside production designers on photography, film, theatre and performance projects, bringing his drawings into the set design. He also creates productions of his own, with the drawings as the stage.
A line begins on a page and keeps going. The page runs out. Then the table. Then the room. The drawing follows you home.
People draw. Children draw before speaking. Mathematicians draw on napkins. Lovers trace shapes on each other’s backs in the dark. Cave walls are museums. Drawing is the first language and probably the last.
Drawing is natural. Similar to thought, like an impulse of some kind, or a complex. Beyond time and space, it is magical. A way of looking into the future and of looking into the self. Even the darkest parts, the most hidden. In this way, it can be therapeutic. It can calm the mind and distill the world and even overcome trauma.
Drawing can also be dangerous and bad for your health. For example, I’m developing a hump and rapidly losing my eye sight. To make matters worse, I’m dirty all the time, constantly fantasizing and avoiding my taxes.
Drawing can make you go for a ride and disappear. Sometimes, I go so far into a drawing that I forget to eat, or talk to others. I’ve had drawings burst into flame and singe my beard. Be careful. Drawing is humiliating. But if you are trying to lose weight, I’d give it a try.
Milo Dlouhy
Milo Dlouhy is a Czech-born artist based in Calgary. He studied at the Alberta College of Art and Design and has spent decades building artist-run spaces in the city. His pieces stay open for years. He reworks them, damages them and keeps going, sometimes to the point of destruction.
Full biography at milostate.com →