Roland Flexner: Recent Ink Drawings

Roland Flexner — French-born, now living in New York — creates drawings by breath rather than by hand. Mixing ink and soap in a shallow dish, the artist dips a hollowed brush into the mixture and blows a bubble over a sheet of paper. While chance and physics play a definitive role, the artist has perfected his control over a number of variables, including the modulation of breath. This “vocal gesture” informs the shape of the bubble and the distribution of ink as it bursts.

In this series of drawings, the bubble covers most if not all of the paper, giving them an unearthly landscape quality. The drawings contain multiple readings, from strange, distant planets to microscopic life forms. Their effect is astonishing and mesmerizing.