Awareness Post: Marcel van Eeden

About: Born in 1965, this Dutch artist is known for drawing and rendering historical periods. His visual narratives spanning time up until his birth use materials from the periods and feature semi-fictional protagonists. He questions the authenticity of autobiography and our broader experience of history and its documents.

This overall project is called The Encyclopedia of my Death.

Untitled

2018

Compressed charcoal on paper

19x28 cm

I really like how all his work is Untitled, it makes it seem like a moment in time. Specifically for this piece I find the values and shadows very interesting. In general the varying angles of strait lines create movement in the drawing.

Untitled

2002

Pencil on Paper

19x28.3 cm

I noticed the pencil strokes are a lot looser in this piece, and tha tthe drawing is almost the exact same size as the previous one. This drawing focuses on people instead of architecture and feels kind of muddy. The high contrast is the same but the lines are less sharp, probably because this isn't photorealistic. The scene is quite crowded and full of movement, not a carefully picked screenshot of time. In comparison to the first, it is full of life where the other is void.