John Seemer finds charm aplenty in Alex Bodea’s unique ‘drawshooting’ technique…
To call Alex Bodea another ‘street artist’ in Berlin would be a misnomer – though not entirely inaccurate. While most street artists today continue to vie for uncovered walls and self-directed attention, Alex Bodea seems more content with acting like a passive flâneur; unexpectant yet aware, allowing the streets of Berlin to make their mark on him.
And it’s there, in the randomness of the city’s streets, that his drawings find their origin. Beginning quite simply as ‘daily observations’ – the kind we all experience – his translation from street to medium transcends the ordinary and routine.
“Everywhere and everytime something occurs,” he says. “But what I shoot, what I draw, is not what I see, but what I think about what I see. I think of isolated facts as generic. I turn dull into important. And I inaugurate unexpected points of view.”
His work accepts the subjectivity of the human experience and uses that as direction in itself to document his own understanding of the world around him. He has produced hundreds of visual drawings, many within minutes of each other, collecting them in an on-going project he calls “Drawshooting”.
Each image, or ‘visual note’, carries with it a title of the exact time and place of conception as well as short, often quirky caption giving it life, hinting toward a meaning, albeit a subjective one.
This draftsman’s images evoke a sense of clarity reminiscent of far-Eastern calligraphy but read more like a haiku, poignant and direct while exhibiting the sensibility and mastery of a maturing artist. His work elicits questions: How far does what we see differ from our understanding of it? And how often do we take that fact for granted?
visual note on: Manteuffelstraße, Berlin, 17:50, 30 Nov 2012
visual note on: Händelplatz, Berlin, 10:45, 3 Dec 2012
visual note on: U-Bahn Güntzelstraße, Berlin, 18:41, 13 Dec 2012
visual note on: U-Bahn Kottbuser Tor, Berlin, 16:50, 14 Dec 2012
visual note on: U-Bahn Kottbuser Tor, Berlin, 16:51, 14 Dec 2012
visual note on: Straße der Nationen 22, Oranienburg, Memorial and Museum Sachsenhausen, 10:20, 26 Dec 2012
visual note on: Straße der Nationen 22, Oranienburg, Memorial and Museum Sachsenhausen, 10:34, 26 Dec 2012
visual note on: Straße der Nationen 22, Oranienburg, Memorial and Museum Sachsenhausen, 10:46, 26 Dec 2012
visual note on: Straße der Nationen 22, Oranienburg, Memorial and Museum Sachsenhausen, 10:47, 26 Dec 2012
visual note on: Straße der Nationen 22, Oranienburg, Memorial and Museum Sachsenhausen, 11:02, 26 Dec 2012
visual note on: Straße der Nationen 22, Oranienburg, Memorial and Museum Sachsenhausen, 11:29, 26 Dec 2012
visual note on: Straße der Nationen 22, Oranienburg, Memorial and Museum Sachsenhausen, 12:04, 26 Dec 2012
visual note on: Ruhleben Am Hain, Berlin, Krematorium Berlin, 10:17, 28 Dec 2012
These images are taken from the series Drawshooting by Alex Bodea. To see more of his work, visit his website.
Loved John’s article and description of the artist’s approach of translating thoughts to images, and what we don’t see into reality. Bravo!