Arturo Herrera

American, born Venezuela, 1959

Untitled, 2006

graphite and coffee on paper

sheet: 80 x 58 inches (203.2 x 147.32 cm); framed: 82 7/8 x 61 11/16 x 2 1/2 inches (210.5 x 156.69 x 6.35 cm)

Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Gift of Deborah Ronnen, 2010

2010:16

More Details

Class

Drawings

Work Type

Drawing (visual work)

Information may change due to ongoing research.Glossary of Terms

In Untitled, Arturo Herrera combines thick, black fragments of previously executed abstract motifs with the softness of graphite and comical gesture on a background of coffee-stained paper. Throughout his body of work, Herrera has continually explored the process of staining, using consumable beverages like tea and coffee—the latter a well-known export of his native Venezuela—to create unpredictable results. In the work here, the warm brown of the coffee stains may be a nod to the drawing’s partial subject, Bambi. Through the black segments, linear drawings of this docile, cartoon mammal’s legs serve as a point of entry for the viewer. Overall, there is a decided gentility to this work that contrasts with the graphic nature of Herrera’s cutout and collaged works.

Label from Arturo Herrera: Little Bits of Modernism, December 12, 2014–April 5, 2015