GONE ALONG ARE THE ANIMALS

“Gone Along Are The Animals came from a sudden interest in the circus as a platform to examine the complicated dynamic between man and beast.  Through the act of drawing, I develop a catalogue of figures, human and animal, and spill them onto a blank page to construct a complex, new situation.  The empty space operates like a stage upon which these characters can interact and perform—in this sense, the environment created in these drawings is emblematic of a spectacle, and is meant to suggest a similar sensation of unpredictability.  Like a menagerie made for amusement, where the union of human and animal worlds is often dark and exploitative, these works are meant to invoke loneliness, heartbreak, separation, and injury without depicting overt acts of brutality or manipulation.  The figures shown here are kept in a moment of suspension, as if some unidentified action is about to happen or has just happened.  This point of anticipation is critical.”  -Anne Buckwalter

Anne Buckwalter was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and now lives and works in Portland, Maine.  She received a BFA in Painting and Drawing from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and an MFA in Studio Arts from Maine College of Art.  Anne is the President and founder of the Portland Drawing Club and a co-host of N-Pilar, an analog radio program that examines contemporary art, culture, and pants.

annebuckwalter.com