methadont: 365 drawings by jesse draxler | march 27th 2010

a year of art, 365 days of drawing.

true collaborations are almost impossible in these modern days whose 24 hours seem to rush and drown us. however artist jesse draxler and musician and writer benjamin kucera created a collaborative - and intensely human - project that has spanned an entire year.

each day ben would send jesse a word, phrase, or song lyric. jesse would in turn interpret and create a drawing from these words. with no time to toil or over think, jesse found that each piece represented the initial thought or imagery that sprang into his mind upon reading the daily words. the project was to speak to the immediacy of art, the instant presence of a word to the mind without inference. "methadont" was the first word exchanged.

the pieces were made in bars, clubs, cars, work, restaurants, laundromats, some even while traveling. the location seemed to affect the outcome of each work. found objects from jesse's current location can be seen in specific works, and certain pieces were created using the limited supplies jesse could find at the time in his particular environment.

this project became a year-long dual journal. ben's words sent to jesse were often a direct reflection of the happenings in his life and would come from the perspective of good and bad, emotional and impassive, sober and blurry. jesse's illustrations were filtered through the events and perspective of his own daily life, creating a single piece with two meanings, both strangely and beautifully relatable. the pieces are whimsical and humorous, heartbreaking or crude, and intensely intellectual. this project began on march 23rd 2009 and will be complete on march 23rd 2010. four days later, the show opened at umber studios and 365 days of art were revealed.