Robyn O'Neil: 20 Years of Drawings

Robyn O'Neil: 20 Years of Drawings, is the first major monograph published of the artist’s work and offers a brilliantly detailed look at the foundation laid by her earliest drawings, the evolution of her hand and the epic works that have defined her career. This collection of over 100 images is accompanied with an essay by curator Alison de Lima Greene who offers extraordinary insight into both the artist’s life and work. O'Neil enlarges both the physical scale of her work, and the internal dynamics of her drawing by pitting her increasingly small figures against a vast panorama. At the same time, she plays with Western perspectival conventions, using empty expanses of paper to stack space in the manner of Chinese scroll paintings. Each area of the landscape is punctuated by vignettes, ranging from two figures standing before a dead deer to vast assemblies. That this is ultimately a battle of man against man, rather than man against nature, is hinted at by the squadron of World War II bomber planes that sweep down from the central mountain gap.