Brea-03.04_Childrens drawings_Carlos Matallana

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April 10, 2018 ·

Carlos Matallana. Excerpt from “Brea” (a two-page spread). 2017. Ink on paper. Image courtesy of the artist.

Carlos Matallana. Excerpt from “Brea” (a two-page spread). 2017. Ink on paper. Image courtesy of the artist.

This is a two-page spread, together showing a continuous scene, with black drawings against a white background. Toward the bottom of the frame are outlines of several children’s heads, with their thought bubbles taking up most of each page. The thought bubbles depict a range of images with varying levels of detail. Some are concrete and perhaps recognizable images (such as a vase, a rose, fruits, alien- and dragon-like creatures, a cartoon character) and others are abstract (a swirl of black, layered stripes, gestural dabs, a set of symmetrically arranged marks, a slope of dash marks, an asymmetrical lined shape stretching within its bubble). The last thought bubble is connected to a child standing next to an adult and pointing at a paper; the thought bubble shows a spider web and includes the words “this is the capital of imagination land” in a child’s handwriting.