Gordon Newton at the Detroit Institute of Arts - Detroit - Brief Article

Gordon Newton, a central figure in Detroit's Cass Corridor group of the 1970s, is principally a sculptor, but this exhibition focused on his drawings. The show consisted of 150 works on paper created between 1970 and 1996. Made in series covering months or years, Newton's drawings possess a striking physicality, while his imagery embraces both things of human design and organic phenomena.

A groping for order in the face of vast, natural structures informs a 38-by-50-inch untitled landscape from 1972. In making this turbulent scene, Newton ground crayon and graphite together with the heel of his shoe, tore holes in the paper and added pencil marks and smudged fingerprints. By contrast, the smaller, richly hued Untitled (On the Thames, English Cottage), 1984, depicts the orderly architecture of a home, garden, neighboring river and surrounding countryside.

Also represented in the show were four series featuring machines: an airplane, a roller coaster, a farm tractor and military tanks. These drawings celebrate the construction of mechanical objects, while probing their function in the world. The festive deep reds and golds and busy energy fields of Roller Coaster III (1977)--a 38-by-36-inch drawing made with paint, graphite, crayon, ballpoint pen, varnish and collage--evoke a fairground, while the roller coaster of the title appears as a swirl of marks spilling down a geometric scaffolding. In Untitled (Agriculture), 1992, a farm tractor sits with unruffled elegance amid warm yellow hues and smoky earth colors. The drawing's varnished surface gives the scene a glassy liquidity. Untitled (Warfare), 1982, uses crayon and wax to depict an ominous-looking tank whose hull and harshly projecting guns are set against an agitated, disturbing backdrop of firing artillery and general destruction.

Whether working in the medium of sculpture or drawing, Newton is known to be an extraordinarily productive artist. Although this show presented just a fraction of his output, it was an effective sampling of his dynamic process and wide-ranging themes.

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