COMPELLED

An exhibition of Bay Area artists working by hand by choice

Curated by Sarah Drasner

In the past century, the art world has expanded its horizons to a point beyond the traditional craft of drawing, painting, and sculpture to embrace all media and modes of working. One no longer needs to spend the long hours and time-consuming measures that used to be so intrinsically tied to making an art work. Why, then, do many artists choose to fawn laboriously over their pieces rather than make their point quickly through the use of new media?  What compels them to use their own dexterity rather than an array of available technologies?

Compelled highlights the work of 18 artists who are driven to make work that is both tedious in it’s execution and crafted with an obvious devotion to materials.   Less obviously, these artists do not regard the process by which the work is made to be an end in itself, but rather a necessary means of communication.