For Movement's Sake — LAURA NAPLES

When I was a kid, I loved to draw. My preferred tools were pencil, charcoal, and marker - especially the brush-tipped kind that made elegant lines. Eventually I came around to painting, but not until I was in my 30s.

Another feature of my childhood was ballet - both the practice and the idea of it. I idolized principal dancers Gelsey Kirkland and Wendy Whelan. While I studied and ascended the Checcetti Method levels, I built balance and strength while I longed for a more fluid expression through the arms and hands. Ultimately I stopped dancing at 14 due to a confluence of reasons, but my early love never entirely left. (I still do Ballet Beautiful workouts.)

Fast-forward to my mid-20s. I worked as a graphic designer and calligrapher for all my clients and friends who were getting married at that time. Again, languid and specific lines both captivated and challenged me. My favorite calligraphy lettering involved the use of white ink against a dark envelope or paper background.

*BEND Acrylic ink on paper, 30 x 22 in.*

On an art supply run last year, I picked up some Yasutomo Y&C calligraphy markers. I often incorporate colored pencil lines into my paintings to introduce rhythm or connection between forms - usually precisely drawn, curved or straight elements - but thought I’d try out looser, more intuitive sketches with the markers.

I remembered Agon - a ballet I first saw performed by NYC Ballet in 2017 - and watched it online prior to making these drawings. Agon is a George Balanchine “leotard ballet”, in which dancers perform in black and white practice clothes so their attire doesn’t distract from their movements. For a playful spirit connection, I listened to Igor Stravinsky’s score for the ballet while I drew black and white lines on contrasting papers.

I moved my body in familiar ways as I made these marks, like the dancer and calligrapher I used to be - parts of myself that I think of as the original plan because they emerged from intuitive fascination and desires. This quote from an announcement of an exhibition of drawings at David Klein Detroit just landed in my inbox:

Drawing is really the best of all art mediums. Its history is long and encompassing, truly global, virtually unbounded…drawings bring us close to an artist’s thoughts, feelings and touch with an intimacy that sometimes seems metabolic. -Roberta Smith

It’s true for me that something this expression feels very closely linked to intuition - almost a kind of blueprint. The messages sound something like this: move because it feels like a link to the original plan, to earliest yearnings. Move for movement’s sake - for the gesture itself. Make these marks as a historical record, replete with the fullness of former moves - and former lives - that tether those points back to now.

*CHASE / Acrylic ink on paper, 30 x 22 in.*

The series of ten drawings is available through the studio.

To inquire, please email hello@lauranaplesstudio.com.

For Movement’s Sake

Art, Inspired: MacArthur Place x Uprise Art