Oasis (study) Drawing

"Oasis" was the first piece envisioned for the "Of Craving and Modesty" show in Espacio 218 gallery (Santiago, Chile), a 3 person collaborative exhibit around the subject of male homosexual intimacy and construction of desire in the digital era. This is the study for the show's only large piece by artist Ignacio Henríquez, which accompanied another 13 small format and 1 medium sized drawings. The final "Oasis" piece was acquired by Chile's renowned CASA Collection. The work was inspired by Andrew Wyeth´s vast, high horizon landscapes, and its emotional despair conveyed, as it intends to come across as highly rugged floating terrain at first as your eyes move across it, unveiling the body as you get a clearer sense of the whole picture. The title refers both to this geographic characteristics as well as a metaphor of the sanctuary feeling evoked in the intimate image of the artist´s partner´s body laying in bed; innanimate yet full of life. Graphite drawing on paper is the preferred method for Ignacio Henríquez; currently moving to ever more extreme sizes (both small and large) in his current practice.