Portrait Exchange Round Robin
(2009-Ongoing)

Previous Round Robins:

Trade School
139 Norfolk Street, New York, NY 10002
Saturday, February 20, 2010

Goto Photo Gallery>>

*****

University of Trash, Sculpture Center
Long Island City, Queens
Saturday, July 25, 2009

Goto Photo Gallery>>

     What do you really look like?

     Artist Peter Walsh is organizing portrait exchange round robins. Together during the workshops, Mr. Walsh and the participants construct wall sized portrait “matrices” of all the completed drawings, allowing the participants to “read” the portraits of each individual while evaluating the skills, techniques and styles utilized.

How does it work?

Step One: Each participant exchanges portraits with partners seated across a long communal table. First one participant draws their partner for seven minutes, then the other. As the bell rings, they move one seat over at the table, greet a new partner and do another set of timed portraits. As the round robin proceeds, each participant gifts their drawings to their partners while they accumulate a group of portraits of themselves.

Step Two: When the round robin is completed, participants create a wall-sized grid: portraits of the participants horizontally, portraits by them vertically.

Step Three: Participants discuss the completed drawings and the process of exchanging portraits, evaluating the multiplicity of values created. Does a likeness of an individual emerge in a series of portraits by many hands? Is one drawing better than another or do they work best as a group? How is the drawing exchange different than the system of one artist drawing one model?