New England Home: Black Magic
April 15, 2017 - Robert Kiener, New England Home
Charcoal is the medium of choice for Rick Shaefer, whose powerful drawings reflect his fascination with, and mastery of, the "integrity of the line."
Bent over a waist-high, eight-foot-square table in his airy, light-filled studio, Fairfield-based artist Rick Shaefer seems lost in thought as he feverishly draws with charcoal on a massive sheet of white vellum. He works quickly but precisely, scratching out crisp black lines.
Pausing and standing back to inspect his progress, he explains why he prefers to create works in charcoal rather than paint, pencil, or some other medium. "It's so primitive," he says. "Our Paleolithic ancestors were scratching with burnt wood on the walls of caves, and I like to think - at the risk of sounding too romantic - that using charcoal somehow links me to what artists have been doing for thousands of years. I also like the tonality, the rich, crisp blacks on white that I get with charcoal."
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