2008 Collection

The Camera Lucida

My work in the studio this year was dominated by experiments with a device known as the camera lucida. This was an inspiration I had after visiting a David Hockney exhibition in London, where he showed many outstanding portraits drawn this way. I could tell at once that it represented a new way of seeing (as opposed to drawing) and so it could help me tackle the problems of figure drawing in a new light.
IThe device makes the process of drawing much more challenging. It creates all kinds of problems in proportion and composition, but at the same time seems to ‘miniaturise’ the world, as if the studio has suddenly become a doll’s house into which one can peer. (download the 2008 Catalogue)

Charles Burns, Autumn 2007