In Our Nature 2017

Editor: Here we have Soey Milk's pencil drawing, "In Our Nature" from 2017. I'm immediately drawn to the textures, particularly the contrast between the soft floral elements and the hard leather of the headpiece. What jumps out to you about this piece? Curator: For me, it's the fascinating juxtaposition of natural and industrial materials depicted. Consider the labor involved: the artist’s meticulous rendering of both the delicate flower and the manufactured headgear, equalizing their presence on the page. How does this tension between the hand-drawn natural and industrial affect your reading of the work? Editor: I see what you mean! I hadn't really thought about how much time and work was spent replicating these different materials. It feels like the artist is trying to blur the lines between them, to make them seem almost equally important, or maybe equally artificial? Curator: Exactly! Notice the choice of pencil, a readily available, relatively inexpensive material. Yet, the artist elevates it through masterful technique. This begs the question: how does the accessibility of the medium relate to the message? Is she democratizing art by using such an ordinary tool, or is she making a comment on mass production itself? Editor: That's a great point. Using something so simple to create something so detailed and thought-provoking is really interesting. The pencil drawing, which is reproducible, allows the artwork to have the potential for broader consumption and appreciation beyond its physical form, which wasn’t something I had really noticed! Curator: It raises important questions about artistic skill, the value of labor, and how we assign meaning to objects based on their materials and modes of production. The social context is really at play here. Editor: I am glad to see the connection to these material and social issues. It makes me appreciate the drawing in a whole new light. Curator: Me too. This closer look forces us to consider how deeply ingrained these material relationships are, even within an image we might initially perceive as simply a beautiful drawing.