Ingrid Calame is an American artist based in Los Angeles, known for her abstract, map-like paintings inspired by human detritus.
Calame’s works come from a painstaking process of recording cracks and stains from the physical environment. She first began tracing the shapes, textures and stains on pavements, cultural and industrial sites, reconstructing the places that have been overlooked or disregarded.
#334 Drawing (Tracings from the L.A. River and ArcelorMittal Steel), 2011; coloured pencil on trace Mylar; 285 x 183 cm (112 x 72 in)
Drawings #334 and #346 reveal part of Calame’s intensive process. Calame and her team obtained tracings from the dried-out concrete riverbed of the L.A. River, hand-stenciled numbers on the factory floors of the ArcelorMittal Steel factory floors, and from the cracks in an abandoned wading pool at the Perry Street Projects in Buffalo, New York. These tracings were then assembled and retraced in colored pencil to form the final layered drawings.
#346 Drawing (Tracing from the Perry Street Projects Wading Pool, Buffalo, NY), 2011; coloured pencil on trace Mylar; 183 x 285 cm (72 x 112 in)
“I go to specific locations to trace marks, stains and cracks on the ground on to architectural Mylar. From these tracings I make drawings and paintings. I clean the original tracings and layer them on top of each other. Once I’ve piled up the tracings, I place several rectangles of drafting Mylar on top of them. This determines the size of the drawings I will eventually make. I then start to trace the layers of rubbings that are beneath the rectangles, with a different color pencil for each layer, peeling back the layers one by one until I reach the bottom of the pile. The final drawings are always a surprise.” – Ingrid Calame
Drawings 179, 181, and 182 were generated by tracing the silhouettes of stains found on the streets of Los Angeles.
INGRID CALAME, # 179 Working Drawing, 2005, color pencil on trace Mylar, 176 x 88 inches INGRID CALAME, # 179 Working Drawing, 2005, color pencil on trace Mylar, 176 x 88 inches INGRID CALAME, # 182 Working Drawing, 2005, color pencil on trace Mylar, 88 x 88 inches INGRID CALAME, # 181 Working Drawing, 2005, color pencil on trace Mylar, 176 x 88 inches
Before we move out of this big and beautiful space (and into a new big and beautiful space….) The Seattle Artist League is hosting a show of student work March 10, 11, 12 and we want you to be a part of it! Past and present students and teachers at the League, you are invited to …
[vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]This collection is from an Artsy editorial by Casey Lesser from June 10th, 2016, originally titled “These 20 Female Artists are Pushing Figurative Art Forward.” Casey’s full writing is below. Personally, I’m less interested in continuing the very legitimate fight to acknowledge female artists, and more engaged …
Steamroller Printmaking Party Saturday Aug 24, 10:00-4:00 We have a great banjo player, a food truck serving falafel, and a 2.6 ton steamroller. We’re closing down 103rd Street for a printmaking block party! Come cheer as League printmakers make giant prints with a steamroller. Possibly the most funnest thing ever! Kids will get to make …
Colored Pencil Drawings by Ingrid Calame
Ingrid Calame is an American artist based in Los Angeles, known for her abstract, map-like paintings inspired by human detritus.
Calame’s works come from a painstaking process of recording cracks and stains from the physical environment. She first began tracing the shapes, textures and stains on pavements, cultural and industrial sites, reconstructing the places that have been overlooked or disregarded.
Drawings #334 and #346 reveal part of Calame’s intensive process. Calame and her team obtained tracings from the dried-out concrete riverbed of the L.A. River, hand-stenciled numbers on the factory floors of the ArcelorMittal Steel factory floors, and from the cracks in an abandoned wading pool at the Perry Street Projects in Buffalo, New York. These tracings were then assembled and retraced in colored pencil to form the final layered drawings.
“I go to specific locations to trace marks, stains and cracks on the ground on to architectural Mylar. From these tracings I make drawings and paintings. I clean the original tracings and layer them on top of each other. Once I’ve piled up the tracings, I place several rectangles of drafting Mylar on top of them. This determines the size of the drawings I will eventually make. I then start to trace the layers of rubbings that are beneath the rectangles, with a different color pencil for each layer, peeling back the layers one by one until I reach the bottom of the pile. The final drawings are always a surprise.” – Ingrid Calame
Drawings 179, 181, and 182 were generated by tracing the silhouettes of stains found on the streets of Los Angeles.
Related Posts
Drawing A Day, Day 25
Seattle Artist League Show
Before we move out of this big and beautiful space (and into a new big and beautiful space….) The Seattle Artist League is hosting a show of student work March 10, 11, 12 and we want you to be a part of it! Past and present students and teachers at the League, you are invited to …
Contemporary figurative artworks that push me out of my comfort zone
[vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]This collection is from an Artsy editorial by Casey Lesser from June 10th, 2016, originally titled “These 20 Female Artists are Pushing Figurative Art Forward.” Casey’s full writing is below. Personally, I’m less interested in continuing the very legitimate fight to acknowledge female artists, and more engaged …
Steamroller Printmaking Party!
Steamroller Printmaking Party Saturday Aug 24, 10:00-4:00 We have a great banjo player, a food truck serving falafel, and a 2.6 ton steamroller. We’re closing down 103rd Street for a printmaking block party! Come cheer as League printmakers make giant prints with a steamroller. Possibly the most funnest thing ever! Kids will get to make …