Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon Portland Community College

Two Sisters, (vicinity on Cape Sebastian, OR) by Erik Sandgren

  • Title: Two Sisters, (vicinity on Cape Sebastian, OR)
  • Artist: Erik Sandgren
  • Medium: Charcoal on gessoed paper
  • Size: 11"h x 15.5w
  • Creation date: 2017
  • Added to collection: 2019
  • Donor: Gift of the artist
  • Campus: Rock Creek
  • Location: B3/2 Drawing gallery rm 228 hallway

This rugged drawing in coarse charcoal on gessoed paper reminds us that it is not only what the artist is looking at that determines the work but the bravery with which they trust their responses to looking. This drawing, seemingly the result of a brief encounter like a tourist's snapshot, is a profound mediation on repetition in the rhythms of rocks, sea and sky. The sensitivity of the horizon opposed to the fierce jabs of the rock formations and tiny figures in the front plane creates a dramatic sense of space and atmosphere.  This robust and cavalier drawing which may have taken only a few minutes to execute is the kind of miracle that happens only when the artist does not expect a miracle to happen.