Max Ralph
Sydney Secondary College Blackwattle Bay Campus
NOIR BIRDS
Drawing
Graphite on Paper
I am interested in drawing both film noir gangster films and birds, so my body of work combines these interests. I have inserted birds into various film noir scenes, dressed as characters from those scenes. I have used different lighting settings in the scenes, with environments ranging from well-lit to almost completely dark. In this work I focused on improving my tonal drawing skills. Over the course of creating my work, my skills and knowledge around effectively creating tonal drawings progressed much further than I expected.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the film noir gangster film genre.
Marker's Commentary
This highly engaging Noir Bird series expresses incisive ideas that are elaborated and sensitively sustained throughout twelve small scale graphite and charcoal drawings. There is a strong connection between the linking of material and conceptual practice in this body of work. Images reveal an understanding of the cinematic noir genre through the use of composed storyboard film scenes with a full range of intense dramatic lighting. This is supported in the monocratic rendering, cropping and clever framing of these drawings. The motif of the bird is sustained throughout the series and blends within the character of the provocateur portrayed in each scene with underlying humour and intrigue.