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Everything is interconnected in the drawings of Ivna Esajas. Lines continue in a single flowing movement and surfaces overlap in gliding, transparent layers. Bodies never stand fully on their own, forming tangles and chains with other bodies, both human and animal. It is as if time and space have become fluid and characters from past, present, and future are all existing simultaneously.
Esajas draws with charcoal, pencil, paint, and ink on canvas. Working without a preconceived plan, to Esajas drawing is an intuitive process. She starts by drawing lines on the canvas and then looks at the surfaces, connections, and interspaces that emerge from these. From there, figures take shape, with the accompanying narratives emerging later. The artist prefers to leave the exact meaning of her drawings open to the interpretation of the spectator, although they will be able to find some clues in their titles.
Like a painter, she stretches her canvasses, but unlike most, she chooses to work on the reverse side which is surrounded by a wooden framework. In this way she is able to lay the canvas down on a flat surface and put pressure on it while drawing. Sometimes she removes the canvas stretcher after finishing, but at other times she leaves it in and puts the canvases against the wall, with the drawing and wooden framework facing the room. She thus plays with the conventions of Western art presentation, which prescribe that the supporting framework of a canvas must be on the reverse side, hidden from view.
Text: Sarah van Binsbergen
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)