Air Fold

An artist who works exclusively on paper, Tara Geer creates large abstract drawings based on the close observation of insignificant details from her surroundings--a fold in a bag, a tar stain on the roof. Her compositions balance intricate tangles of lines, scrawls, and smudges, with empty areas of white paper. Mixing media such as charcoal, chalk, and pastel, she gives her drawings a broad range of tonal values and rich sense of texture. This drawing belongs to a series she worked on for over a year, inspired by the small pockets of air she saw when the stiff canvas of her backpack crumpled. "The folds seem so alert, or present, or full of potential," she wrote, "like the shapes of hand motions over a game board, but without that bravado."