CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 4/13/2015

Drawing People: The Human Figure in Contemporary Art

"The artist begs the public to be indulgent with him, because he has neither imitated other works, nor even used studies from nature," Goya wrote in 1799. "The imitation of nature is as difficult as it is admirable, if it is really perfect. But an artist may also, surely, remove himself entirely from nature and depict forms of movements which to this day have only existed in the imagination... Painting, like poetry, selects from the universe whatever it considers most suitable for its purposes. It unites qualities and characters which nature has scattered among different individuals and concentrates them in a single fantastic being. Thanks to this creative combination, the artist ceases to be a mere copyist and acquires the title of an inventor." Text excerpt and Raymond Pettibon's "No title (Once the judge)" (2006) are reproduced from Drawing People; Pettibon is one of 70 contemporary artists featured in this important new contemporary figurative drawing survey.