Ray Hassard
When I find myself in rough emotional waters figure drawing has helped me get back to shore safely. Earlier, it helped me return to painting after a lengthy period when I wasn’t painting. More recently, it helped me get through a cancer scare period. In the last two years, I found my post-Covid self had little incentive, energy, or desire to paint. Why does figure work help? There is a discipline involved in meeting weekly at a set time, studying the model’s appearance with the goal of capturing not only the outward, but something inward too. The models and poses might not be my first choices, but I am there for several hours and work at it. It has brought me out of myself time and again and continues to ground me in when I need it. It is a quiet, meditative way to work alongside fellow artists—in any medium but drawing is my favorite for figure work.
With one exception all these pieces were done since October 2022 at the Thursday evening Sketch Group sessions at the Cincinnati Art Club. Those sessions alternate clothed and nude poses, and last 2 ½ hours. Sometimes the first 20 minutes will be quick poses, but usually there is one long pose. The pieces in this show are all done with black and white charcoal pencils, sometimes with sanguine pencil added. They are on Canson Mi-Tientes paper and I take special delight in working on unusual colors.
“Chili Parlor Man” is the odd man out. It was done with soft pastels on sanded paper in 2011. It was intended as a study for a full color pastel painting to be made later, but I felt it was complete as it is now and went no further with it.
About Ray:
Widely traveled artist Ray Hassard was born and raised in the New York area and is based today in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. His unique style combines much of the best of European and Asian art traditions into a distinctive American view. Hassard’s work fuses realism and symbolism into an immediately accessible yet deep, subtle, and dynamic portrayal of human interaction with the world.
