In sculpture  making, every decision equals a number of man-hours. A flash of brilliance can result in weeks of labor. All of those labor hours spent realizing the idea supply quality time for contemplation and reflection: “Why am i doing this?” or “What does this mean?” or” “Why?”.

Drawing is the opposite. Every mark is made in real time and there is no hiding it.  To be good at  ink drawing you’ve got to be smart AND fast -or else have a lot of wite-out and a good computer.

These drawings are  finished drawings . They are complete objects in themselves. Not preparatory sketches or rough draughts. They are full of errors and corrections, mistakes and repairs.  They are different from working drawings, which contain the kernel of an idea but are usually a messy outline of a finished drawing or in support of a sculpture. We will show those later or after the  artist’s death and they will be hailed as idiosyncratic, raw and ” the expression of Sachs’  unique talents”. For now they look messy. For now we will have to settle for a more processed, industrial, and stylized kind of drawing- perfect for decoration and easier to digest.  Unlike the coveted process drawings of Bruce Nauman these drawing require no explanation.

Sachs produces  three general types of drawings:

1.Working drawings :
Executed with little regard for communicating with an audience , they are illustrated to-do lists with requisite coffee stains and phone numbers. Although messy they do contain the moment of inspiration, abandoned ideas(which sometimes resurface elsewhere). these unrefined unexamined works are the analog inside of the artist’s brain. [Not Included in exhibition]

2.Diagrams:
Highly researched and obsessively constructed, usually in black(sharpie)marker, Sachs makes serious effort to communicate his understanding of  the subject. The composition is often reworked and vestigial underdrawing is evident. Liberal use of correction fluid(wite-out) is showcased to illustrate the painstaking re-composing that’s done to achieve “perfect” composition. The process recalls mechanical line art (where the original is lost) of the pre-photoshop  days. These drawings are often produced on re-constituted panels of foamcore bonded with thermal adhesive. Or on hotel stationary joined with scotchtape.

3.Icons of Consumer  Humiliation:
Brushed and quill dipped ink is applied to both sides of the vellum to produce the illusion of depth. These icons are always drawn to scale. Close inspections reveals the hours of labor and pain that goes into each drawing. The artist resents each moment of the process  because he feels like a whore,  yet the hobbyist loves to escapes his family by building  a time-sucking detailed model of  almost anything.  Here the subjects  do matter.  Autobiographically they range from  audio cassettes(from the artists childhood collection- the icon of home piracy) to parking tickets(almost always seems unfair) to tampons(“Sir where you keep the tampons? they’re for my girlfriend, yeah she’s having her period, oh top shelf to the left?  O.K. Thanks.”) to condoms, cigarettes and douchebags.

These are all generalizations,many drawings are hybrids of these types. The drawings here communicate and mystify . On purpose and by accident. Deliberate or casual they are definetly built.

Dr. Walter Snarfles M.D. Phd.
New York City  12/27/10