Since 2014

''Medusa  è tratto da un ciclo di lavori dedicato a creature fantastiche, ibridi inesistenti, una fusione tra il sembiante, sensibile e dolente di me stessa che mi autoritraggo in forme travisate ma riconoscibili e l'inorganica pacificazione di un manichino che viene contaminato nell'accorato abbraccio della carne viva, al punto da apparire resuscitato dalla sua inanimazione. 

Il sottilissimo tratteggio è dato dalla fusione della penna nera Bic sovrapposto a velature di colori acrilici. 

Dopo un leggerissimo schizzo a matita o carboncino sulla superficie legnosa estremamente liscia dove organizzare la struttura armonica dell'opera ed eseguire la suddivisione spaziale in modo da dare il primo ordine visivo, ho deciso di utilizzare per la base tonale gli acrilici che ho steso molto liberamente senza soffermarmi troppo sul chiaroscuro. 

In questo modo ho lavorato a penna sui mezzitoni e sulle ombre profonde. 

La penna è la protagonista e mi permette di ottenere un segno a volte estremamente incisivo, rigoroso e spietato per le zone più scure, a volte fragile e evanescente per le zone più chiare''・ ​

PICK PIECES  The Ballpointer staff choose the artwork and let the artist explain it in their own words ・ Vol 7 No 4  posted August 24, 2020​

​Dominique Vangilbergen・Berlin, Germany (Kreuzberg) 

Opera #31  Palais Garnier Paris  ・ 2020 ・ pencil, ink (ballpoint), acrylic, spray paint on paper ・ 112 x 77 cm (X x X'') 

Lennie Mace   Tokyo, Japan

Missing the Ball Point

Dimes-to-donuts there's a ballpoint pen within reach of you right now. Reliable friends, always there when you need them; on standby to scratch a Hitler mustache onto The President or blacken the teeth of the covergirl dujour. Your grade-school composition books were probably filled with more stream-of-conscious creative filler than actual studies. But this proletarian tool is no longer just for signing checks, writing postcards or doodling sweet nothings.
   The origins of ballpoint artwork echo the humble origins of art itself. Caveman roots; the universal, instinctive urge to create. For some, an irresistible force; to express oneself, to leave one's mark, to teach, using whatever tools are available. All that's necessary is the will to do so, pressed by a bit of creative curiosity, aided by ingenuity. ''Let's see what happens when I do this.'' Galleries, museums and art critics enter the equation much later. 
   There you sit, a dozen-thousand years later, surfing through the daily barrage of viral news. A headline grabs you: Starving Artist Illustrates The Bible on his Bedroom Wall Using Ballpoint Pens. Well, ''starving artist '' doesn't mean much anymore; with the amount of aspiring artists art schools churn out every year its a miracle anyone goes onto a career. ''Illustrating the Bible ''? Hasn't that already been accomplished in any number of formats  any number of times in any number of languages ? ''On his bedroom wall ''? Children cover walls with masterpieces daily, to their parent's dismay, worldwide. And ''using ballpoint pen''? Now there's a story, right ? Well…
   News outlets worldwide still report about artwork created using ballpoint pens as if, in the half-century since its invention, the pens have never been given any artistic consideration. Prior to the advent of the internet and social media, their ignorance could be forgiven. Nowadays ballpointers are everywhere, in every corner of the world, and the so-called ballpoint Wow Factor in and of itself carries less weight. The internet and social media are these days awash with ballpoint art blogs of every stripe, although with varying content. Ballpoint art classes may already be part of a curriculum somewhere. But the birth of the internet didn't mark the beginnings of ballpoint innovation; if anything, it merely serves as proof of how commonplace it has become, or how it has been  all along ・・・

Pepe Lozano   Lucena, Spain

James Mylne, 1999   London, England

Guy Woodard   New York, New York

Described here is one of my most recent drawings, a view of the Belgium city Ghent, completed in the beginning of 2020. It took at least half a year to complete, requiring at least 20 ballpoint pens. I've made large-format drawings, in general, but this could be the largest. It shows the historical city center in all its glory and details. It’s a bird eyes view, in a way like flying over the city. Without horizon. When it comes to drawing the complexity of a city or urbanized landscape I use photos to base on, but apart from that I actually work very intuitively. I deliberately choose contemporary images of cities, for the eclecticism of architectural styles that you can find which have arisen over the centuries. It is a reflection of the history in our society and for me it symbolizes the evolution of our knowledge. 

​On the other hand, the choice of material stems from my experiments with old and analog photography techniques. I have been making cyanotypes (blueprints) of my own photo’s and negatives for a long time, which in turn served as a source image for my drawings. The contrast of the cyanotype process was not always satisfactory, it’s a very photosensitive process in which you do not have full control. And gradually the desire to achieve that control grew. 

In other drawings What I have used is a ruler or piece of paper to cover certain elements in the image so they remain white. For example with long sharp pieces that have to remain absolutely white…or when very dark areas are next to a white recess. This is very important in obtaining sharpness and contrast in the overall picture. ''・  ​

de FACED  

slideshow

​​​​​​​EXHIBITIONPICK    Peter Ross Hong Kong May 12—June 16

Last revised Aug 24, 2020

No, the drawings presented here have not been  'defaced'  or altered in any way. The section title deFACEDsimply describes the fact that the artworks presented here have been pulled from social media posts such as facebook and, as such, therefore  'de'-faced,

as it were. Some of the artists may be familiar to readers, but new faces will also be introduced here. These artists have not been notified of inclusion here, but every effort will be made to credit the artwork as they did in their original posts. 

The content of this slideshow presentation is revised regularly

& randomly.

Listed by date, from most recently posted.

・

All artwork ©

respective artists

''Medusa  is taken from a cycle of works dedicated to fantastic creatures, hybrids and the ethereal.

This is a fusion between my own outward appearance, sensibilities and pains, portrayed in distorted but recognizable shapes, and the inorganic pacification of a mannequin that is contaminated in a heartfelt embrace of living flesh, to the point of appearing resurrected from its inanimation.

The very subtle hatching is achieved by the fusion of the black Bic ballpoint pen overlaid with glazes of acrylic paint.

I proceed in this way: after a very light pencil or charcoal sketch on the extremely smooth surface of wood panel, I organize the harmonic structure of the work. First, I run the spatial division to give the visual order of the composition. Then I decide what to use for the base tones, for which I applied acrylic paint colors spread very freely without dwelling too much on the chiaroscuro. 

To work on mid-tones and deep shadows, I work with the ballpoint pen. The ballpoint pen is the main character, and allows me to obtain extremely incisive, rigorous, and merciless gestures for the darkest areas, and sometimes soft and evanescent for the lighter areas.

A work of this size requires two weeks of work and I will have used twenty black ballpoint pens''・ 

Matt Rota   Brooklyn, New York

​​​PICK PIECES   The Ballpointer staff choose the artwork and let the artist explain it in their own words   Vol 5 No 5  posted October 6, 2018

Archie Smith・Paphos, Cyprus

ONE   December 2018—April 2019, work in progress ・ 90 x 50cm, current (20 x 26'') ・ ballpoint pen on paper 

​​''I am consciously trying to portray something organic that is alive; An organism, and many intertwined organisms ... that are moving, spinning, spawning, growing, maturing ... Order and chaos .... serenity and then explosive energy; An Energy that we all experience but is beyond all of our understanding; That very Energy that sparks procreation, reproduction, birth, growth ... Life and all of existence itself''... continues below

illustration by Susan May for The Ballpointer

Eric Seaholm   Tokyo, Japan

Lennie Mace, 1984   New York, New York

​​​M.I. Shaikh・Mumbai, India

​​Ten Rupee Currency Note・2015・29.7 x 42cm (12 x 17'') ballpoint pen on paper・Artwork © M.I. Shaikh

''It is first time I draw “money” in ballpoint pen. Copied from a photo. It is not a series but possibly in the future I will go for it. After choosing an image of a note and selecting the paper, I sketch the same. Then comes the task of filling the colour in the sketch. The lighter shades are applied first and then they are layered by darker shades. I use a set of 10 colour ballpoint pens including black, except yellow. “Linc” ballpoint pens, an Indian brand. Orange and purple colours are included in the set. For the tan colour tone, green, orange, brown and black is used. I start with orange and green, very lightly, and then I apply the layer of brown, then black. Shades depends upon the strokes, light handed strokes helps to merge many colours and bring out new shades. Plenty of shades can be made with the same colours, with proper estimate. The size of a drawing is more or less equal to the real note, so it also looks real. The text and graphics are the same as on the real note''・

M.I. Shaikh  can be reached directly at mynameismunaf@yahoo.in.

M.I. Shaikh   Mumbai, India

Peter Ross   Hong Kong

PICK PIECES  The Ballpointer staff choose the artwork and let the artist explain it in their own words ・ Vol 7 No 6  posted November 7, 2020​

​Don Stewart・Birmingham, Alabama 

Navy Diver  ・ October, 2020 ・ ballpoint pen on paper ・ 21 x 29.7cm​ (8.3 x 11.7'')(X x X'') 

​​​​​​​Ler Huang・

Kaohsiung, Taiwan

​​POW Experimentation  ・

(Experimentation on a Prisoner Of War)

June 6, 2016・10 x 15cm (4 x 6'')  

(shown nearly actual size)

ballpoint pen on paper

​''This picture was drawn on June 6th, this year. On that day there was news about World War II on TV. The news was about a documentary of the war, and the part I watched was related to the Japanese army‘s Unit 731 experiments on live human beings (not Taiwanese). It was so cruel that I felt extremely angry. Therefore, this picture came out. 

I didn't mean to make any judgement, neither did I want to cause any international disputes. I watched the news and felt very angry. My work was just my feeling about an old event. I had no way but draw the picture in red to express my anger. 

I drew it directly in ballpoint pen without any preliminary sketch, and it was created by myself (not a copy of anything showed on the news). It took me around three hours to finish this drawing''・

Contact:  website or email

Artwork © Ler Huang 

A Year in The Pen  The Ballpointer  Nov 2014 - Nov 2015   PICKS  of the Litter 2015

Gareth Edwards   Stourbridge, England