Fragments of a Square #16 1977

Stephen Antonakos made Fragments of a Square #16 using colored pencils on paper. Not exactly your typical sculptural material. The work's visual impact resides in its sharp lines and clean geometric forms. But what happens when we consider the ‘how’ of the work alongside the ‘what’? The work shows off a handmade feel. The colored pencil lines have a softness, and a tactile quality, that’s really different from, say, a silkscreen print. In its making, Antonakos is slowing things down, literally drawing attention to the activity of drawing itself. The colored pencil, so familiar from childhood, is here used in an utterly precise way. Perhaps the reference to rudimentary processes is a way of implying that even the most basic means of production can be used to create a sophisticated end. The finished artwork challenges our assumptions about what counts as skillful work, inviting us to see value in unexpected places.