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Donna Huddleston
The Instant, 2021
Caran d‘ache pencil on Archival Fine Art Print
two parts: 20,8 cm x 15,0 cm & 20,8 cm x 47,5 cm
Edition: 25 (5 AP)
Donna Huddleston’s meticulously detailed drawings take a closer look at representation conventions in plays, often showing figure compositions that seem staged, with actions that are indicative of dramatic events, while place and time are never truly defined. Gestures – such as the gloved hand with fingers outstretched, sometimes clasping a phone receiver, other times not – “velázques-esque” costumes and prop-like objects – rifles, telephone cords, metal waist chains and necklaces with crystal pendants – may appear in various works, in whole or in part. They are the thread that runs through Donna Huddleston’s work, emphasising its narrative nature. At the same time, these accessories from various epochs seem to codify, rather than clarify, the action and locations of the drawings. Now and again, titles, texts or combinations of drawings may help interpret the work, sometimes hinting at contemporary events. In the two-part drawing titled “The Instant” – the drawing that our hand-coloured fine art print is based on – Huddleston combines the image of a woman’s torso – evidently on the phone, as indicated by the old-fashioned cord running over her right breast – with the mirrored image of arcade architecture bathed in moonlight. Timeless and stark, the architecture is reminiscent of a famous, modern ruin in Scotland, the brutalist St. Peter’s Seminary in Cardross.
