{"id":1945,"date":"2010-11-22T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-22T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp\/2010\/11\/drawing_insects_-_the_fine_and\/"},"modified":"2010-11-22T14:30:00","modified_gmt":"2010-11-22T22:30:00","slug":"drawing_insects_-_the_fine_and","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/2010\/11\/drawing_insects_-_the_fine_and.html","title":{"rendered":"Drawing insects – the fine and the coarse"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the 11 years he has operated his aesthete’s paradise\/curio and jewelry shop in Ballard, called Souvenir<\/a>, Curtis Steiner<\/a> has never featured himself in a solo show, till now, through Dec. 3. The insects in his ink drawings on paper – Insects and Alphabets<\/i>
\n– step on dainty feet out of 19th Century England, when entomology was a
\npastime as common as chess, surrounded by the kind of elegant handwriting that helped define the leisure
\nclass. <\/p>\n

\"curtissteinerroach.jpg\"Each
\ninsect holds court on the page, antenna twitching, surrounded by the
\ncalligraphy known as cursive. Last year, when my nephew Rafferty was
\nfive, he showed me a sample of his, calling it “curse writing.” 
\n(“Cursive,” I told him. “No,” he said with a scowl, “curse
\nwriting.”)<\/p>\n

Rafferty is a fan of Steiner’s, thanks to Steiner’s interactive project at the Seattle Art Museum<\/a> titled, 1,000 Blocks<\/i>.(Steiner’s manipulations here<\/a>.) Steiner’s arrangements are top hat and tail; Rafferty’s are dockworker, blocks roughing each other up in muscled heaps.<\/p>\n

Steiner’s
\ninterest in lists of things is not so nearly extinct as his fine hand.
\nThe urge to categorize and define animates the work of his polar
\nopposite, Gregory Blackstock<\/a>, who from memory draws images he has seen in dictionaries, encyclopedias
\nand other source books, starting with outlines and shading in. Each of
\nhis drawings is a list, and the paper is often cut and taped together
\ninto a kind of scroll, punctuated by block writing. <\/p>\n

\"Gregoryblackleafhoppers.jpg\"We
\ninhabit the world by naming its parts. In times of upheaval, names blur
\nand opposites stand in for each other, perfectly illustrated in 1942 by
\nHenry Reed, whose mind in the middle of World War II productively wandered between sex
\nand death.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
NAMING OF PARTS
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

To-day we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
\n
We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning,
\n
We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day,
\n
To-day we have naming of parts. Japonica
\n
Glistens like coral in all of the neighboring gardens,
\n
        And to-day we have naming of parts.<\/p>\n

This is the lower sling swivel. And this
\n
Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,
\n
When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel,
\n
Which in your case you have not got. The branches
\n
Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,
\n
         Which in our case we have not got.<\/p>\n

This is the safety-catch, which is always released
\n
With an easy flick of the thumb. And please do not let me
\n
See anyone using his finger. You can do it quite easy
\n
If you have any strength in your thumb. The blossoms
\n
Are fragile and motionless, never letting anyone see
\n
        Any of them using their finger.<\/p>\n

And this you can see is the bolt. The purpose of this
\n
Is to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it
\n
Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this
\n
Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards
\n
The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers:
\n
        They call it easing the Spring.<\/p>\n

They call it easing the Spring: it is perfectly easy
\n
If you have any strength in your thumb: like the bolt,
\n
And the breech, and the cocking-piece, and the point of balance,
\n
Which in our case we have not got; and the almond-blossom
\n
Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards,
\n
        For to-day we have naming of parts.\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the 11 years he has operated his aesthete’s paradise\/curio and jewelry shop in Ballard, called Souvenir, Curtis Steiner has never featured himself in a solo show, till now, through Dec. 3. The insects in his ink drawings on paper – Insects and Alphabets – step on dainty feet out of 19th Century England, when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1945","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}