Review: ‘Drawings of Removal’ merges artist with art

Arceneaux’s in-progress exhibit brings back childhood memories

Jessica Warren
Published: Thursday, December 4, 2003

In “Drawings of Removal,” the artist is actually part of the exhibit. That is if Edgar Arceneaux refrains from removing himself from the art space where he occasionally drops by on a whim to add more sketches to the unfinished canvas.

This unusual exhibit consists of merely one small room with one wall covered in mirrors and the others by giant canvases waiting to be transformed into art. Perhaps Arceneaux never got past his childhood impulses to draw on the walls.

The sign on the floor (“Please do not clean this room!!! Or throw anything away. Thank you.”) resembles an artist’s version of a child’s “Keep out” warning sign meant to ward off parents and siblings. The artist makes his presence known even when he’s not in the room.

Although work-in-progress art is nothing new to Arceneaux, “Drawings of Removal,” which will be evolving until Feb. 29, is different in its inspiration, which came from a trip to his father’s hometown of Beaumont, Texas, in 1998. During this trip, he and his parents found the city completely changed from their memory. This sudden realization motivated Arceneaux to dig into his memory, particularly of his formative years. However, even with this background information, it’s still difficult to understand the purpose of the eclectic drawings and cut-outs which decorate the room.

There is no coherence to the drawings already in place, but it is interesting to look around and see tidbits of his imagination that have made it onto the walls. On the floor lie pencils with sharpeners and pencil shavings, giving the room the appropriate look of an ongoing project. A chair and stereo are present in the exhibit for Arceneaux’s sporadic use, as well as a half-empty bottle of apple juice likely left from his last visit.

With all of the pens lying about and the huge, blank papers on the walls, visitors may be tempting to pick up a pen and start finishing his sketches, but this is of course off limits unless a visitor wants to get kicked out by security.

“Drawings of Removal” is intriguing in its variance from the typical art exhibit, but hardly worth stopping to see by itself. It would be much easier to dust off that old childhood easel, find those Crayolas, and draw rainbows and stick figure families.

-Jessica Warren